It was good to catch up with Mines Minister Dr Antony Lynham on his visit to Mount Isa on Wednesday.
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I've met Dr Lynham a number of times now and his enthusiasm for his portfolio - and the North West Minerals Province that powers it - always shines through.
On Wednesday he was here to discuss cobalt with mineral explorers Aeon Metals who have a copper-cobalt tenement they are drilling in near Doomadgee and the Northern Territory border, with the help of some some government Collaboration Exploration Initiative.
However I was initially thrown when I read the name of the place they were meeting, the "John Campbell Miles Drill Core Centre" at Killara Crescent.
I've been in Mount Isa three and a half years and I'd never heard of the place, thinking it had something to do with Mount Isa Mines training centre. But no, this is a Mines Department facility out past the airport which manages significant holdings of drill core and cuttings and geological samples for the benefit of Queensland and the mining industry.
There for a decade, the staff are quietly compiling a huge library of core samples from across the region.
Exploration companies in Queensland are required by legislation to provide the department with representative samples of any core/cuttings taken during tenure.
It is an astonishing resource and one that has been added to by recent Aeon Metal samples from Walford Creek.
The reason Aeon and Minister Lynham are so excited by these particular samples is that they are rich in cobalt, which is an increasingly important component in renewable industries.
Currently the cobalt market is dominated by African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has serious problems of stability, war and deadly diseases like ebola.
Australia, in particular North West Queensland, has the resources to become a major player in the cobalt market, which is why there is so much attention on Aeon.
If their mine comes to fruition in the coming years there will be hundreds of construction and operational jobs which is good for the region (as long as the jobs are not FIFO). Derek Barry
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
