Mount Isa Minerals (M1M) and specialist investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners have finalised a funding collaboration agreement to commercialise the former’s quartz ore assets in Queensland.
The undisclosed funding will be structured in two tranches to support a phased development approach of the Mount Isa asset and collaboration will span the full project lifecycle – from exploration and resource definition to development, mining lease applications, and market entry.
The initial tranche will be directed towards accelerated exploration activities to define and confirm a JORC-compliant resource for the identified quartz outcrops.
The funding will also support detailed metallurgical testing to validate the suitability of the quartz for various applications, including metallurgical-grade silica (MGSi) and potentially higher purity quartz applications such as solar and semi-conductor crucible manufacture.
This will then be followed up with a Scoping Study.
Subsequent funding from Quinbrook, an investment manager which focuses exclusively on the infrastructure needed to drive the energy transition in Australia, the UK, and US, will be allocated for mining lease applications and supporting activities.
“This finalised funding will mark a major step forward in realising the significant potential of Mount Isa Minerals’ quartz assets. This collaboration with Quinbrook aims to not only unlock a new revenue stream for the collaboration, majority owned by M1M, but also contribute to regional economic growth and job creation in Mount Isa and the North West regional zone,” Mount Isa Minerals reports.
Underpinning the joint venture is the potential for a future offtake agreement.
This partnership leverages privately held Mount Isa Minerals’ “substantial quartz deposits” and strategic location in Mount Isa, alongside Quinbrook’s expertise in energy transition infrastructure and their commitment to local sourcing.
Quinbrook proposes to develop and build a state-of-the-art silicon smelter and polysilicon manufacturing facility at Townsville, Queensland sourcing quartz from the North Queensland region. This is aimed at creating an opportunity to strengthen the domestic supply chain security of critical materials for the solar industry.
“By establishing a domestic supply of crucial silica materials, this initiative will strengthen Australia’s position in the renewable energy and advanced technology sectors,” Mount Isa MInerals reports.
Initial rock chip assays have indicated high silica content (99.5% to 99.9% SiO2) with low impurities at prospects named Eureka, May Downs, and Mica Creek.
Quartz is a mineral composed of silicon and oxygen (SiO2). It’s one of the most abundant minerals in Earth’s crust and is resistant to both chemical and physical weathering. It is often associated with feldspar and can carry gold.
Mount Isa Minerals has one of the largest undeveloped iron ore copper-gold (IOCG) projects in Australia. The company picked up the “high-grade” quartz project following Glencore’s (LSE:GLEN) closure of its Mt Isa copper mines, as previously reported by Mining.com.au. Glencore in October 2023 announced its plans to close its underground copper operations at Mt Isa in the second half of 2025.
With 350km2 of tenements situated just outside of Mount Isa and directly adjacent to Glencore’s operation, Mount Isa Minerals is pursuing a portfolio driven approach to meeting the increasing demand for key critical minerals. Its tenements are prospective for copper, high-grade quartz, critical minerals including gallium, and uranium.
The company is seeking to develop its diverse mineral portfolio to capitalise on growing global demand for the critical minerals underpinned by the emerging data evolution through AI and the ongoing energy transition.
Quinbrook was established in July 2015 by David Scaysbrook and Rory Quinlan who have invested in renewables for over two decades and in power infrastructure more broadly since the early 1990s. The fund is managed by a senior team of power industry professionals who have collectively invested circa US$6.9 billion of equity capital in 40 GW of energy infrastructure assets representing a total transaction value of US$29.8 billion ($46.98 billion).
The specialist investment manager has completed a diverse range of direct investments in both utility and distributed scale onshore wind and solar power, battery storage, reserve peaking capacity, biomass, fugitive methane recovery, hydro and flexible energy management solutions in the US, UK, and Australia.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Glencore & M1M
