The Queensland Government has announced Yeppoon-based CQ Fibreglass Direct as the first recipient of its $79.1 million Transforming Queensland Manufacturing Grant Program.
CQ Fibreglass Direct — which supplies high-performance ventilation products to underground coal mines and fibreglass products to the maritime industry — will receive up to $113,000 in funding. The company will use the grant to install an automated advanced fibre composite manufacturing system, which is designed to reduce waste, improve productivity, and meet growing demand for its products.
The project is expected to create seven new jobs and lead the upskilling of CQ Fibreglass Direct’s entire workforce.
Queensland’s grant program aims to help grow the state’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and skills while also supporting local jobs. The program will continue to be delivered over the next two and a half years, with round two expected to open soon.
The latest grant comes as Queensland’s resources sector enters a new phase, with the state seeking to extract greater value not only from its mineral wealth, but also from the businesses and technologies that support its development.
Capturing value from the mineral supply chain
While CQ Fibreglass Direct is helping Queensland capture more value from the mining supply chain, the state’s opportunity extends further upstream — to the mineral projects themselves.
For example, Sunshine Metals (ASX:SHN) is advancing resource development in the state through its Ravenswood Consolidated Project.
Ravenswood Consolidated is prospective for intrusion-related mineral systems hosting gold, copper, molybdenite, and base metals.
The project also hosts the Liontown deposit, which has a resource of 7.27 million tonnes (Mt) @ 3.19 grams per tonne gold equivalent (AuEq) for 745,000 ounces AuEq recoverable, or 10.9% zinc equivalent.
After upgrading Liontown’s resource, Managing Director Damien Keys said “the new resource has increased gold and silver content in the shallow, open pit-accessible horizons and improved confidence in the resource in proposed mining areas”.
Sunshine Metals also owns the Sybil Project, which lies north of Charters Towers in close proximity to the Ravenswood Consolidated Project. Sybil is considered prospective for ‘high-grade’, epithermal gold.
In July 2026, Sunshine identified two new gold targets within Sybil. The targets lie south of Francis Creek East and were uncovered as areas of potassium depletion in the radiometric data.
More recently, Sunshine began a 4,528m reverse circulation drilling program, targeting three areas across Sybil. The drilling is expected to be completed in September.
For Queensland, the opportunity extends beyond what can be extracted from the ground. The investment in CQ Fibreglass Direct highlights the potential for the state’s mining sector to support a broader network of advanced manufacturers, suppliers, and technology businesses — creating jobs and capturing more value locally along the way.
As companies such as Sunshine Metals continue to advance mineral projects including Ravenswood Consolidated in North Queensland, that ecosystem could become increasingly important.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: CQ Fibreglass Direct & Sunshine Metals
