General News
14 May, 2025
$200m a year for 10 years: Glencore's big ask of government
The mining giant has copped criticism for its lack of commitment to the Mount Isa community.
Glencore wants $2 billion in government funds to keep Mount Isa’s copper smelter operating for the next decade.
North West Weekly can reveal that Glencore CEO Gary Nagle put the extraordinary figure to Premier David Crisafulli, Treasurer David Janetzki and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dale Last in Brisbane earlier this month.
A senior government source said the Premier was not thrilled with the CEO’s request.
“Glencore wants $200 million a year over 10 years to subsidise the Mount Isa copper smelter and the Townsville refinery,” they said.
“That figure certainly caught the room by surprise and I don’t think (the Premier) was happy about it.”
Mount Isa mayor Peta MacRae, who also met with Mr Nagle while he was in Brisbane, said the city had “started to feel the effect of Glencore’s lack of commitment to our community and our future”.
“We definitely need a long-term solution for the smelter because it is a key piece of infrastructure that underpins the economy,” she said, expressing concern that Mount Isa was being used as a bargaining tool.
The mayor said while Mount Isa couldn’t afford to lose the copper smelter, there had to be a ceiling on what the taxpayer should contribute to the Glencore-owned facility.
“I’m sure they’re negotiating, but I honestly don’t know what the outcome should be that would be best for our community, the state and the country as a whole,” she said.
“Obviously, we need a smelter – whether it is this smelter or whether it is a new smelter as some sort of common user facility ... I’m not sure of the solution.”
When Glencore announced in 2023 that it was closing its Mount Isa underground copper mines, it said the smelter was “currently expected to operate to 2030 subject to the approval of additional capital investment”.
Last month, the company said it would not operate the smelter beyond next year without government support.
Outgoing Glencore zinc assets chief operating officer Sam Strohmayr said increased international competition and declining access to local concentrate meant the company was now weighing up whether to proceed with a planned re-bricking in 2026.
“We have big investment decisions we need to make at the end of this year, and you can imagine that any private business, if you’ve got a big capital investment and an outlook that sees the asset as being uneconomic, then that’s a pretty difficult decision to get anyone to agree with,” he said.
Mr Strohmayr singled out energy cost relief and hastening regulatory approvals as areas of concern for the company.
Cr MacRae said it was time for Glencore to start making big decisions with the Mount Isa community at the forefront.
“We’ve heard of ‘potential’ and ‘plans’ around the Black Star expansion for more than a decade and we’re still no closer to certainty,” she said.
“On top of that, we now have them threatening the future of our smelter which is a vital Australian asset – enough is enough.
“Everyone can still have confidence in our town because we have all the minerals in the ground. We know we’ve got a bright future, but we need some announceables.
“There are projects over there that aren’t contingent (on the smelter negotiations), such as Black Star and Green Gravity. It’d be great if we had some certainty around those.
“I’m really positive about the future of Mount Isa and I’m working as hard as I can to keep positivity up within the town, but it would be great if we had some more certainty about what Glencore’s intentions are.”
