Red Metal Banter, page-11

Glencore this week announced the 2026 closure of the underground copper mine and concentrator at Mt Isa, with 1200 jobs potentially lost -https://www.glencore.com.au/media-and-insights/news/mount-isa-mines-operational-changes. Note that the copper smelter and lead/zinc operations at Mt Isa are continuing.

Whilst extremely unfortunate for the Mt Isa community, and those employed by the copper concentrator, the QLD government has now pledged $30m towards advancing local resource projects that could provide jobs for the Mt Isa community. These jobs will be required when the concentrator closes in 2026 onwards.

RDM and the Sybella deposit could stand to benefit immensely from this government support, with a potentially huge rare earth deposit situated only 20 km from the Mt Isa copper smelter. Also, important to note that the copper smelter itself will continue (processing copper concentrates from various Australian mines), which means that the local supply of cheap sulphuric acid will still be available going forward. Cheap acid is a key advantage for Sybella compared to other REE clay projects which will need to import expensive acid to site (e.g., IXR).