ZARA MARGOLIS, HOST: Money is needed, millions of it, to secure the future of the Mount Isa copper smelter and Townsville copper refinery. But who will pay for it, will anyone? Glencore has asked the State government to step in. The states want more support from the feds. So, where does the Federal government sit on all of this? Last week, for the first time, Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science Tim Ayres sat down with Glencore alongside Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dale Last to talk. Minister Ayres also visited Mount Isa and the copper smelter for the first time on Friday. 

I caught up with Minister Ayres to find out how it all went and where that leaves things now.

SENATOR TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: Well, the focus of this visit to Mount Isa has been to work with Queensland government on all of the questions around the future viability of a mining operations and smelting operations here in Mount Isa. This is a very important national asset currently operated by Glencore and I'm very focused on making sure that they continue to deliver for Mount Isa and for Queensland and for Australia.

HOST: The trip today follows your first sit down meeting that you had with Glencore in Brisbane. What were your takeaways from that?

AYRES: There is a lot of work to do here, and we are going to work in a disciplined way, collaborating very closely with Premier Crisafulli and Dale Last, the Mining Minister in Queensland and their teams to make sure that we are representing the national interest here very effectively and very clearly. There is still some work to go and of course you wouldn't expect me to go through the details of those kinds of discussions, but we are very focused on the interests of the region and the national interest.

HOST: Completely understand you can't go into those specifics, but when you say work needs to be done, is this work that would be able to have some, not a resolution, but some concrete information or announcement for community in a few weeks, a few months?

AYRES: Well, Glencore can provide security and certainty now by committing to investments and continued operations of the smelting facility. That's what should happen, that's what we're focused on. Now, we will work with the details, and we'll work on the interests of the mine facility here, but also of all of the junior miners and other mining operations who use this facility. As I say, there is detail that we will work through systematically and I'm not about to announce a position on radio, on your program or any other. We will do it in lockstep, carefully with the Queensland government.

HOST: Is it looking like a funding situation? I know that that's what the State government has been asked, and the former state governments indeed have done that a number of times previously without any Federal government support. Is that something that your government's open to?

AYRES: Well, Queensland is leading that part of the discussions in relation to commitments around rebricking of the facility and those issues. Queensland will reach its own conclusion about those questions. We will work with them carefully on that, but more broadly on the sustainability and what the right arrangements are for the future of mining and the future of mineral processing here in Mount Isa.

HOST: So, don't necessarily see the Federal government's position being in that financial way to continue the operation of that, but more broadly how it fits into Australia's national critical framework. Is that what you're saying?

AYRES: Yeah, well, you'll notice I'm being pretty cautious about making commitments about, that is because there is a lot at stake here. Of course, it's the sustainability of local mining and the economic and social effect that has in the community. And there are a set of national strategic and economic resilience questions around critical minerals and copper itself, which I don't want to bore you with the terminology, but is regarded as a strategic mineral. It all matters. Our focus for the Albanese government on a Future Made in Australia is all about not just exporting raw commodities and raw ore overseas on big ships, but processing and adding value to products here in Australia. That's how we want to secure Australia's future economic resilience. And that's the kind of approach that we're bringing to bear in these discussions. But we're doing it carefully, we're not doing it in a rush. And we're going to do it for the right reasons.

HOST: Minister Ayres, I think a large portion of the community will actually be quite hardened to hear you talk about that national significance of indeed international significance. Because just in conversations that I've had with people locally and myself living in North-West for the past 10 years, I'm not sure whether or not people understand when they hear about the copper smelter closing the broader ramifications this could or would have.

AYRES: I understand that value and the government understands that Australia is operating in a tougher world with, you know, in a much more challenging regional and geopolitical context where there is pressure on Australian products being exported overseas. So, we're working carefully through those issues. That is, you will have seen, and your listeners will have seen the Australian government intervene in the steel industry, for example, under quite different conditions. This is Glencore's responsibility to continue smelting here in their commercial interest, but also in the national interest and the regional interest. And my focus is on making sure that they are accountable and delivering on that important role.

HOST: What's the next step here? Is there going to be more meetings? Again, am conscious and hear you when you say it's the State government's position to make a commitment for funding and also on timelines, but for the people that are listening at home, quite anxious to be frank about the future of the city in this region. Can you give any indication around that?

AYRES: Well, let me be very clear about one thing, that is you won't find the Commonwealth Government, or I don't think the Queensland Government pointing the finger at each other, saying each other should do something. We are working together very carefully on these questions. That's very important to a stable future for the region. I understand, you know, there are hundreds of jobs going in the mining sector here. I understand how anxious people in the community will be about the future of the processing and smelting operations here and indeed in the surrounding businesses that rely upon Mount Isa. Very significant industrial businesses. Of course there's going to be more meetings. That's how we're going to exchange information and develop a view about how we finalise our approach. But we will be working diligently and carefully through all of this. Not in a mad rush. Diligently and carefully in the national interest.

HOST: Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation, also Minister for Science Tim Ayres, speaking following a trip to Mount Isa to visit the copper smelter at the end of last week. Also following a meeting with Glencore, the first time the Federal government had sat down with the mining giant to discuss pending or possible closures in the region, the upcoming closure of the underground copper mine, threats to the copper smelter and copper refinery. Certainly, seems like the Federal government isn't in a position to commit financially to the rebricking of the smelter, that that will remain a State government issue. But the significance of those assets more broadly to mining in Australia. Well, Tim Ayres saying that is definitely on their radar. Something we'll have to keep across because only discussions at this stage.