Queensland mining town of Glenden could see future guaranteed under new amendments

The Queensland government has introduced legislation in parliament designed to safeguard the future of a small mining town.

The town of Glenden, about 160 kilometres west of Mackay, was established by Mount Isa Mines in the 1980s to accommodate workers for the Newlands mine, but was taken over by Swiss miner Glencore in 2013.

The mine has stopped producing coal and will cease operating entirely in the next few years.

The looming closure left the future of the town in limbo and sparked fears among residents that their homes would be demolished.

But on Wednesday Police Minister Mark Ryan introduced legislation, as a part of a wide range of other amendments – including changes to youth justice and sex work laws – that could link Glenden with the proposed Byerwen mining project being developed 20km away.

"It is proposed to grant the mining lease legislatively, with conditions to transition the Byerwen workforce into Glenden over a five-year period," he said.

"Further of the workers accommodated in Glenden, 30 per cent will have to be housed in residential dwellings.

"These amendments will ensure that Glenden benefits from the nearby Byerwen mine and that the mine can remain open and operating, supporting hundreds of jobs."

How will it work?

With the Newlands Mine winding up, it was hoped the Byerwen project would see a new company take over the lease of the private town. 

But QCoal has instead tried to house workers at an onsite camp. 

Mr Ryan told state parliament that when the Byerwen Mine was approved in 2017 the company indicated a portion of the workforce would be housed in Glenden.

"A consideration for the approval of the Byerwen Mine was a representation by the mine proponent in its environmental impact statement, in terms of how they prefer to accommodate their workers, which included an assertion that a proportion of the workforce would want to reside in Glenden," Mr Ryan said. 

He said while those assertions underpinned the government's approval, they ultimately were unenforceable. 

That is because the mine was approved before the Sustainable Resource Communities Act was brought in, which requires social impact assessments.

Mr Ryan said the reason that they were unenforceable was because when the Byerwen Mine was approved in 2017 there was no requirement to consider social impacts. 

The urgent amendments have been proposed to the Mineral Resources Act 1989, with few details available at this stage.  

QCoal has been contacted for comment.