Ok, and the Isa and it downstream value adding should be a template for the nation.

The missing link that would enable that outcome is cheap reliable energy 24/7.

And that's not renewables or an increasing costly Snowy 2. But rather, MSR thorium and or MSR nuclear waste burners.

Moreover, a purpose-built mass production factory could turn out around one reactor a week.
Alan B.

Almost 60 years ago some bright bloke at Mt Isa mines had the idea to replace their steel ventilation pipes with PVC. He reckoned they should cast these pipes on sight using a recently developed rotational casting technique, & offer the work to ex miners incapacitated in mine injuries.

They contacted Nylex looking for a suitable casting resin. The boffins developed a number of formulations of hard resins, gave me a crash course in rotational casting of PVC, & sent me out there. It was a pretty agricultural "bushy" system, but they produced pipe, much lighter than the steel stuff. These pipes ranged from 6" to 3' diameter.

The boffins later developed a liquid elastomer to replace pellets, & sent me out again. Mount Isa led the world in another area.

The boffins developed the elastomers, produced flexible formulations, & pigments that worked. I remember one application was soft kids dolls cast in the stuff, a bit of a switch from underground mining ventilation pipe.

The plastics industry was an incredibly interesting place in the early 60s, & as the title says, Mount Isa was more than just a mine.

Thanks Colin. Great summary and reminder. This article should be on the front page of every major Australian newspaper. Cheers
John McR

Agree! Here's the thing, and on the topic of minerals. In the news this morning was the topic of rare earth and Chinese attempted uncreased involvement in one of our rare mines. The Foreign investment Authority knocked back their attempt to take a controlling position. And said they wanted the mine to process the ore into finished metal, a la Mt. Isa.

How the Isa can still do any of this and pay the power bill is beyond me. Nor will any of our rare earth mines be able to smelt their ore bodies to the metal with intermittent renewables nor at today's prices!

Interestingly, most of these rare earth mineral provinces are easily located via an aerial survey, where accompanying thorium is the indicator mineral and when mined, processed and tossed out as worthless garbage! When in fact, in MSRs it could power all of our mines and attached mineral smelting at prices as low or lower than 3 cents PKWH.

Moreover, the same molten salt reactor technology can be tasked with burning nuclear waste where it is for all practical purposes mostly unspent fuel! The later able to power an onsite smelter at prices as low as 1 cent PKWH!

All the prevents that very outcome is the brain-dead dimwits that govern this country and her mineral rich states!

If there's any other logical explanation for this inexplicable outcome, it escapes me. Save, something stinks in the state of Denmark, quote, unquote.
Alan B.

Footnote: When nuclear waste (mostly unspent nuclear fuel) is burned in a molten salt reactor (MSR) the half-life is reduced to around 300 years.

We could, but only if sanely led, earn annual millions to take this waste (mostly unspent fuel) and use it as outlined above. We'd win every which way reduce the half-life of nuclear waste from thousands of years to just 3-400 and produce safe clean carbon free power for as little as 1 cent PKWH.

That our "Leaders" ha, ha, joke, can keep on saying no to this with the energy crisis and an increasingly hostile China on our doorstep simply beggars belief!

N.B. Any worries about MSR, i.e., corrosion or tritium have been recently ironed out!
Alan B.