Multinational mining company Glencore says its copper smelter and refinery in North Queensland could lose $2.2 billion over the next seven years and it urgently needs government assistance to keep operating.
"Glencore has been absorbing losses, hopeful that a viable solution could be found," the company said in a memo leaked to media on Wednesday and later made public.
"However, we are fast reaching the point at which Glencore cannot continue to absorb these losses."
Glencore had been in talks with the Queensland government, but says the financial assistance offered isn't enough.
The company now wants to hear what the federal government can do to help, saying a "viable solution" is required in coming weeks.
"We are running out of time," it said.
Glencore said it would start preparations to place its Mount Isa smelter and Townsville refinery into care and maintenance if adequate government support wasn't forthcoming.
The Queensland government said it had made a "genuine and responsible offer" to the company and accused it of prioritising its global interests over the Mount Isa and Townsville communities.
"The Crisafulli government continues to negotiate in good faith but will not be writing a blank cheque for a multinational company that returned US$2.2 billion to its shareholders just months ago," Mines Minister Dale Last said.
Mount Isa Mayor Peta MacRae said Glencore's update, as the company's copper mining operation ends, couldn't come at a worse time for the town of about 20,000 people.
"The prediction of 17,000 jobs across the corridor, it's bigger than Mount Isa, bigger than Townsville, and it's bigger than politics," she told AAP.
"It's about the survival of families."
Ms MacRae said she would meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese next week and hoped a "deal" could be made to keep Glencore's smelter and refinery operating.
"We need to put politics aside ... we need to come up with a plan that keeps people in our regions, because the regions are where the wealth is created," she said.
The coalition has called for a Senate inquiry into the metals manufacturing industry, saying thousands of jobs could be lost in Queensland if Glencore is not supported.
"This is thousands and thousands of jobs, both direct and indirect, that are going to be lost if we don't back the metals manufacturing industry within Australia," coalition spokesman for manufacturing and sovereign capability Andrew Wilcox said.
Glencore employs about 600 workers at its smelter and refinery, with a further 17,000 staff at 25 other operations across Australia.
The company in 2023 announced it would stop mining copper at Mount Isa after 60 years, impacting 1200 workers.
The federal and South Australian governments announced on Wednesday an extra $275m to keep the Whyalla Steelworks open, giving the appointed operators more time to find a new owner.
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