General News
11 June, 2025
Cross-border collaboration could reap rewards for our region
The Mount Isa and Barkly council areas could each benefit from a strategic partnership.
While focus has been fixed on the critical minerals east of Mount Isa, the so-called “Barkly Revival” just over the Northern Territory border could provide future resource job opportunities and copper concentrate for Mount Isa.
Last week, Mount Isa mayor Peta MacRae and council chief executive officer Tim Rose flew to Tennant Creek with Traeger MP Robbie Katter and Queensland Cross-Border Commissioner Ian Leavers for the first face-to-face meeting of political leaders from North West Queensland and the Barkly Tablelands.
The two regions have increasingly sought to work together, with plans to revive a local government cross-border agreement and lobby federal government as a joint force on shared interests, such as resource and infrastructure development, as well as law and order issues.
Barkly Regional Council mayor Sid Vashist told North West Weekly that the revitalisation of the resource sector in his region could have significant flow on benefits for the Mount Isa economy.
“All the new projects that are potentially going live in the Barkly and Tennant Creek have real potential to partner with your smelter,” he said.
“In the Territory, we don’t have a copper smelter, and to build one is very expensive, so the concentrate either has to be shipped overseas or we keep it in Australia.
“With our inland partners in Mount Isa, there is real potential for us to work together.
Global mining giant Pan African Resources acquired Tennant Consolidated Mining Group last year and has focused on redeveloping the 1800km2 Tennant Creek Mineral Field, which is one of Australia’s highest-grade gold and copper fields.
Tennant Mining has constructed a gold processing plant at Nobles Nob at Tennant Creek, which will employ about 160 people, with the first gold set to be produced next month.
The company is also focused on developing its significant copper assets in the Barkly, especially at its historical Warrego mine site, which has open pit and underground workings.
Warrego, which is about 50km north-west of Tennant Creek, was producing about 80,000 tonnes of copper annually until the site was abandoned almost 20 years ago.
There is already precedent for NT resource companies to supply the Mount Isa smelter, with a concentrate offtake agreement in place between Glencore and ASX-listed KGL Resources for its Jervois mine, which is about 600km from the Queensland border.
Cr MacRae said the expected growth of the NT resource sector could provide job opportunities for Mount Isa workers, with the council currently in discussions about the viability of a direct air route to Tennant Creek.
“We are working towards building better logistics and connectivity between Mount Isa and Tennant Creek,” she said.
“Instead of the new mines in Tennant Creek flying workers from Cairns, why can’t they be flying people from Mount Isa?
“That could provide new job opportunities for people in Mount Isa. It means we would need to have a critical mass of people in Mount Isa and Tennant Creek that are willing to participate so that it stacks up economically.”