Cloncurry mayor Greg Campbell said that the shire council was working with development group Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Zone (MITEZ) to examine the potential types of biofuel plants that a local industry could sustain. 

The size of the industry is also being examined, the mayor said. 

“We are definitely working on the scalability now and (could) potentially having up to 20,000 acres available for biofuel production within a number of years – within the short-term horizon,” Cr Campbell said. 

The mayor first mentioned in September last year the possibility of a biofuels industry for Cloncurry. “There’s even more potential than what I was participating,” Cr Campbell said. 

The Department of State Development’s director-general Michael Schaumburg visited the shire earlier this month. The topic of biofuels had been discussed, the mayor said. 

MITEZ confirmed biofuels was a possibility.

The industry group’s president, David Glasson, said MITEZ was managing a feasibility study into a new dam on the Cloncurry River. 

One of the advantages of this new dam would be the irrigation of crops. These crops could be used to develop a biofuels industry, Mr Glasson said.