Mount Isa turns to wind, solar and gravity storage to save city as big mines close
The outback mining hub Mount Isa is making a pitch to become a centre for green energy and critical minerals, in a new multi-billion-dollar roadmap.
The Mount Isa Future Ready Economy is designed to offer a future for a town that is facing 1,200 job losses from the closure of the Glencore mining operations.
The roadmap lists 28 pathways and nearly 400 potential actions to shore-up the town’s economy by taking advantage of its still-significant geological assets.
The North West Minerals Province, which includes Mt Isa, has an estimated $680 billion in in-ground resources.
The roadmap’s key pathways include selling minerals key to global decarbonisation, including cobalt, graphite, vanadium, rare earth elements and copper – all of which are found in the region.
The plan also includes producing and storing renewable energy using ‘gravitational energy storage’.
Gravitational energy storage uses weights fitted in disused mine shafts to capture and release renewable energy.
As part of their announcement, the Council has called on the Queensland and Federal Governments to support their roadmap with major investment.