Premier Statement: PREMIER WELCOMES XSTRATA MOVE TO CREATE JOBS

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Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh
03/12/2009

PREMIER WELCOMES XSTRATA MOVE TO CREATE JOBS

Premier Anna Bligh has welcome Xstrata Copper's decision to extend the life of the Ernest Henry Mine near Cloncurry to create around330 jobs during construction and then 400 full-time jobs from 2013.

Ms Bligh said that the Queensland Government had worked with Xstrata and offered a multi-million package of incentives to make the expansion happen.

"The Government negotiated electricity, water and rail deals that allowed Xstrata to proceed with their own $589 million investment," she said.

"This is great news for the Mt Isa and Cloncurry region. This mine would have closed in 2012 and this deal means over 570 existing jobs will be protected and hundreds of new jobs will be created."

Member for Mount Isa Betty Kiernan said the announcement would be welcomed in her electorate.

"This has been a tough time for many families with the global financial crisis meaning some have lost their jobs and many more have been fearful for theirs," she said.

"What this announcement means is that hundreds of families in my electorate know that they will be able to relax and enjoy Christmas with their families."

The deal means that Xstrata Copper will invest around $589 million to extend the life of its Ernest Henry Mining (EHM) operations near Cloncurry in north-west Queensland to at least 2024.

The money will be used to transform the open pit mining operation to a major underground mine together with the construction of an associated magnetite extraction plant.

The project will enable EHM to achieve annual production levels of approximately 50,000 tonnes of copper and 70,000 ounces of gold in concentrates from 2012 when processing from open pit mining operations ceases.

Copper-gold concentrates from EHM will continue to be hauled by purpose-built trucks to Xstrata's Mount Isa copper smelter, with the anode then railed to Xstrata Copper's refinery in Townsville.

The magnetite processing operation at EHM will produce approximately 1.2 million tonnes of magnetite per annum for export to Asia, making it Queensland's first iron ore producer.

Construction of the underground mine is expected to commence in the first half of 2010 with first production in late 2011 and full-scale operation from early 2013. Construction of the magnetite plant is also expected to commence in the first half of 2010 with commissioning expected by the beginning of 2011.

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