SALLY SARA, HOST: Well, the fight to save Mount Isa's smelter continues, but questions remain over who will pay to keep it running. Mining giant Glencore says, forecast losses of $2.2 billion over the next seven years will force it to close its Mount Isa smelter, costing thousands of regional jobs. Glencore is calling for government support. The Queensland Government says it's on board, but that federal support is also needed. The Prime Minister was asked what that support might look like when he was questioned in Parliament yesterday:

PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE: Let's be clear about Glencore, though. It is a highly profitable company. Just this year they paid $2.2 billion in dividends to their shareholders. Australia has been pretty good to Glencore. It's about time that Glencore recognised it needs to be good back to Australia.

SARA: That's the Prime Minister there. Well, Tim Ayres, the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, joins me now. Minister, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

SENATOR TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: G' day, Sally. Good to be on the show.

SARA: What message was the Prime Minister delivering there with his language about Glencore?

AYRES: Well, the message is the same message for Glencore as it is for a range of these other smelters around Australia that are in challenging circumstances at the moment. That is, everybody's got a responsibility to commit, engage and make sure we're investing in the future of this important capability. So, we are engaged as the Federal Government, but it's also about what State Governments deliver, what the industry itself delivers, what the supply chain delivers in the future of these capabilities. And the owners themselves have an important role to play. Glencore has done very well out of Mount Isa. There's a challenging short- and medium-term set of circumstances in the copper market that is driven by overcapacity and unfair subsidies in the global market. But copper has a very strong future in regional Queensland and on global markets. And we want to see Glencore at the table, with plans to contribute to a strong future for that facility and for the region.

SARA: Is it the Federal Government's view that Glencore has the reserves to sort itself out?

AYRES: Well, we want to make sure that Glencore is making a contribution and investing in the future of this facility. This is not to point fingers or to create anything but a cooperative feed income approach from everybody who is engaged in this into a plan for the future of this facility. You know, if I can just explain for your listeners, Sally, the smelter is but one part of the industrial architecture of this region. There is a series of copper assets. Glencore has just closed its copper mine. Workers lost their jobs this week. Some were redeployed, some lost their jobs. There are a series of other junior miners, other mining assets in the region whose copper ore is processed at the Glencore smelter. And there's a series of major industrial facilities in the region who rely upon the smelter for the byproduct, sulfuric acid for industrial production processes. And there is very significant potential in Northwest Queensland for critical minerals mining and critical minerals processing. This region should be, in the future, the Silicon Valley for critical minerals production and processing in Queensland. And this asset is a really important part of that future.

SARA: Is the Federal Government ruling out assistance to Glencore?

AYRES: Well, we're certainly not ruling anything out because we are, you know, we are actively engaged and have been actively engaged with Queensland, working carefully with the Queensland Government. And I know they've been working these issues through with Glencore as well. There'll be more focused and deliberate discussions over the course of next week and the coming weeks. We are absolutely at the table, absolutely engaged to understand, you know, what is the best future sustainable competitive business here that can drive jobs and investment in North Queensland.

SARA: The Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia received a $2.4 billion bailout from a State and Federal Government. Fundamentally. Is there a difference between that case and this one?

AYRES: Well, I wouldn't describe it as a bailout in Whyalla, Sally. The owner of the facility in Whyalla no longer owns the facility. You know, it's - the two governments stepped in here in a pretty dramatic way and the owner of the facility no longer owns it. It's undergoing an administration now to secure the future capability of that facility so that it can be set up for a future commercial owner. That's not a bailout, it's a takeover. That's what happened, that's what happened in Whyalla. Closely coordinated action between the Commonwealth and State Governments in the national interest and in the interests of South Australia and the interests of protecting our future steel making capability. We're at the table here with Glencore working cooperatively engaged across the supply chain, across the copper and broader mining sector to make sure that we understand these issues and that we're acting in the national interest and in the interests of Queenslanders here. I'm very grateful for the cooperation and hard work of the Queensland Government. They are making their own contribution here. I welcome that. We will continue to work with them in a very disciplined way.

SARA: Just briefly, more broadly, the sector is struggling. The idea of taxpayer backed equity injections and long term loans has been floated as part of a national strategy. When are you expecting to unveil such a strategy?

AYRES: We have a meeting next week where I've brought in all of the smelters, the State Governments, the other players in this area, together with our capability at the Commonwealth level, our special investment vehicles like the National Reconstruction Fund, to really thrash out a national approach in the national interest to maintaining this capability. Now, there are no guarantees here. We're operating in an environment where there are very significant unfair market practices and industrial subsidies that are driving overcapacity in global markets. That's the current state and we have to be focused on the future state, which is Australia, with a very significant competitive advantage in energy terms and critical minerals and whether it's iron or copper, right across the mining sector. I'm focused on the future advantage for Australia and securing what we've got now.

SARA: Tim Ayres, thank you for your time. That's Tim Ayres, the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science on Radio National news.