Business
9 July, 2025
Lady Loretta in the sights of Austral Resources?
North West Weekly understands the miner is in talks with Glencore over the mine, which is due to shut down soon.
They've just made a play to buy a closed copper mine near Cloncurry, but is Austral Resources Australia about to make its biggest move?
North West Weekly understands that Austral is in the midst of a deal with Glencore and the Lady Loretta Mine.
While no announcement has been made – and won’t be until the Australian Stock Exchange is told – it can be revealed that Austral has been in high-level talks with Glencore about expanding on the Lady Loretta site.
Whether that is taking over the mine, or just mining on another section of the Lady Loretta lease, remains to be seen.
North West Weekly attempted to contact Austral for comment on both the Lady Loretta interest and its purchase of the Rocklands mine near Cloncurry, but Austral did not respond prior to deadline.
However, at its AGM in May, Austral chairman David Newling hinted there were “two significant transactions” that were pending.
“I had hoped to be able to share with you today our progress on two significant transactions, both acquisitions for the company, but unfortunately, I am not in a position to share the details of these with you given our negotiations are ongoing,” he told shareholders.
“They are at a very advanced stage, and I hope to be able to announce them to the market and our shareholders in the coming weeks.”
Glencore also played a straight bat to questions.
“We don’t comment on rumour or speculation,” a spokesperson for the company said.
“Glencore has large land holdings throughout the north-west Queensland region, including the Lady Loretta lease.
“We have discussions with different stakeholders and are open to considering deals which make commercial sense and deliver a benefit for the region.”
Lady Loretta has gone through ups and downs in the past decade.
In 2015, the operations entered a care and maintenance phase during which time production ceased.
In 2018, the decision was made to resume production, and since then the mine has been successfully contract operated by Redpath Mining Australia.
Production is scheduled to be finished this year, according to a Glencore statement in 2023.
Austral and Glencore already have close ties.
In May this year, shortly after Austral went into receivership, Glencore stepped up to take over the company’s senior secured debt and assumed the role of senior secured creditor.
Glencore also plays a significant role in Austral’s operations as an offtake partner.
Austral’s assets include the Mount Kelly processing facility and Anthill mine.
Its tenements, about 120km north of Mount Isa, also contain a host of former mines and potential growth projects, including Lady Annie, Mount Clarke/Flying Horse, and Lady Colleen.
Last week, the company said it had executed binding agreements to acquire Copper Resources Australia and its Rocklands mine.
Austral said Rocklands, with its three million tonnes per annum processing facility, complemented its Mount Kelly operations by expanding production capacity into copper-gold sulphide mineralisation.
“The acquisition of Rocklands is not just opportunistic – it is transformational,” Mr Newling said in an ASX statement.
“It formalises the first step in our three-phase strategy to consolidate, expand, and ultimately control copper production and processing across the North West Queensland region.
“Rocklands gives us immediate processing scale, derisked growth optionality, and is a pivotal milestone in building the next-generation copper platform.”
The acquisition is subject to a number of conditions.