Welcoming visitors to the state development industry breakfast in Cloncurry last week, Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell had a good story to tell.
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Cr Campbell's shire is at the centre of mining development in the North West with projects on the go all over the shire and commodity prices as strong as they have ever been.
"We've got so much happening," he said without the need for exaggeration.
Glencore's Ernest Henry Mining remains a mainstay for Cloncurry and is likely to be for many years and the immediate good news was the pending reopening of Rocklands mine.
The mine was poorly managed by previous owners CuDeco and has been closed since August 2018 and CuDeco went into receivership in July 2019 leaving a pile of debts to local contractors.
The breakfast heard from Copper Resources Australia Pty Ltd which became the newly appointed operator in December 2020, operating as part of the Mt Cuthbert Group which owns the nearby Mt Cuthbert copper mine at Kajabbi.
They have completed a redesign of the crushing plant and hoped to recommence mining in October spending $52m in 2021 and $96m next year with up to 175 jobs.
Another exciting project in the Cloncurry region is Copper Mountain's Little Eva project, 80km north of town.
A Copper Mountain representative told the breakfast it was anticipated to have a 15 year mine life.
Little Eva is planned to be a conventional open pit and conventional flow sheet with a crush, grind, gravity separation and flotation and their 2020 bankable feasibility study showed they could increase production at a lower cost.
Project financing is due to complete by quarter 4 in 2021 followed by a construction decision by year end.
Little Eva is next door to Dugald River and they also told the breakfast their mine would have a 25 year life.
With Centrex's Ardmore Phosphate progressing well near Dajarra, and the Multicom St Elmo vanadium decision to proceed in nearby Julia Creek, there is plenty to like and North West Queensland will continue to power the state's royalties for decades to come.