Newsroom

November 25, 2025

Harmony Gold have announced they are proceeding with a $2.6 billion investment in the Eva Copper Mine, and that’s fantastic news for the region, Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger Robbie Katter has said. 

“It has to be said that we would have been celebrating this announcement 18 months ago, had there been confidence in CopperString being built all the way to Mount Isa,” he said

“Successive Brisbane Governments have wasted millions, and years on bureaucratic processes procrastinating real progress on CopperString, while projects like Eva need more government Band-Aids to get off the ground.

“CopperString must be fast tracked.  All the way to Mount Isa.  Not more plans and approvals, but poles in the ground.

The Member for Traeger tallied up the government investment to date to keep the lights on in the North West Minerals Provence.

“Between the cash hand out to Glencore to keep our smelter and Townsville’s refinery operating, and the stop-gap deal needed to give confidence on Eva’s significant power needs, we’re talking about $800 million of taxpayers’ money has been poured into trying to put a finger in the dyke that is cracking,” Mr Katter said.

“Surely, between the $2.6 billion of capital from Harmony Gold, and $800 million of taxpayer investment, the bean counters can see that CopperString is vital for the region, and importantly vital to enable vast wealth for the whole state, let alone a gas reservation policy,” he said.

Mr Katter congratulated Cloncurry Mayor, Greg Campbell, on his advocacy for the project.

“It's great to see Eva get FID, and the hard work of Mayor Campbell paying off, Mr Katter said.

“The Eva Copper Mine will use close to 70MW of power.  This is a big deal.  That’s as much as most of Townsville’s combined household demand!

“$17 billion of a potential $680 billion worth of minerals, has been given the green light, but it can’t be ignored that we’re operating in an extremely fragile environment, with sticky tape holding it all together.

“CopperString for reliable, affordable baseload power, and a gas reserve policy would be just the start to really underpin what really is a vast potential for our state.

“We are witnessing Brisbane Bureaucrats negligently squandering away the opportunities for our kids and their kids to have a future where they can be proud to be Queenslanders,” he said.