A gold rush has reignited in north-west Queensland 30 years after being abandoned as mining companies cash in on booming prices for the precious metal.
The Cloncurry region was once home to a thriving goldmining industry, but it was almost deserted when the price of gold collapsed below $240 an ounce in 1991.
But now, with the spot price more than 10 times higher, the area known as the Golden Mile is springing back to life, with a new player in the field hoping it will once again live up to its reputation.
The director of mineral resources advice and promotion at Geoscience Australia, Allison Britt, said gold was seen as a "safe haven" in tough times.
"Over the last few years, we've had these high gold prices and current spot prices are around $2,600."
At Mount Freda, 39 kilometres south-east of Cloncurry, new Australian producer Tombola Gold is expected to start pouring gold by the end of the year.
Tombola, formerly Ausmex Mining Group, owns eight high-grade historical gold mines that make up the Golden Mile and the company also recently acquired the Lorena gold processing plant to treat the gold ore.
Mount Freda mine project manager Dan Mundy said while the complex was small in comparison to other operations in the area it would contribute significantly to the local economy.
"We have no camp on site, so we transit from Cloncurry, which is good because [workers] are spending money in town," he said.
"Our key personnel are fly-in fly-out, but the rest we try to employ locals and local contractors.
"We like to train young people and [are] very keen for young field assistants and truck drivers to give them a start, who then can go on to bigger projects later on."
Golden opportunity for Australia
Australia has the second-largest gold industry, producing about 10 per cent of the world's gold, closely behind China's 12 per cent.
The industry contributed $23 billion to Australia's economy in 2021.
Ms Britt says the unstable economy, brought on by the COVID pandemic, and historically high gold prices have encouraged more people to turn to the precious metal for investment.
She said mining companies often used the profits from gold to finance exploration for other minerals, including the critical minerals used for renewable projects.
"These high prices have stimulated increased exploration, expansion of existing mines and reactivation of old mines and development of new mines right across Australia," Ms Britt said.
The Golden Mile is made up of several historical small-scale copper and gold mines that were predominantly mined prior to 1960, a time when there was a lack of infrastructure and transport was by bullock or camel train.
Historical mines in the area were also generally identified by minerals on the surface and deep exploration was rarely undertaken.
Tombola is one of several companies exploring resource-rich north-west Queensland with renewed vigour.
West-Australian-based company Carnaby Resources is searching for gold 70km south of Mount Isa near the Duchess township.
Another company, C29 Metal Limited, is looking to acquire the Mayfield Copper-Gold site 25km east of Mount Isa.
The only thing holding projects back, according to Mount Freda’s Dan Mundy, is labour shortages.
"We're currently running at around 18 people on site, but we're looking for another 20 personnel and we'll be trying to source as many locals as we can," he said.
"It is particularly hard to recruit technical personnel, engineers and geologists. It’s very hard work to get them."
