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Defunct mines in outback Queensland may not be easy on the eye but they are proving to be a good-looking prospect for the renewable energy sector.
It is no secret the mining industry significantly contributes to Australia's climate change impact — the industry accounts for almost one third of national CO2 emissions.
Now a renewable energy storage developer is repurposing legacy mineshafts in North West Queensland in the hope of helping to decarbonise the region.
Green Gravity's renewable-powered technology stores energy by lifting heavy objects up a mineshaft.
The energy stored is released back into the grid by lowering the objects back down the shaft.
Mark Swinnerton says there is vast potential in Queensland for solar storage facilities. (Supplied: Mark Swinnerton)
Executive director Mark Swinnerton said the technology worked in a similar way to pumped hydro, but without the water.
Green Gravity calculates it can store two gigawatt-hours of energy from the sites surrounding Mount Isa.
A rotating system means that amount of energy can always be on hand.
Mr Swinnerton said that was enough to power about 120,000 households, but industrial loads added to the energy scale meant the true use could support the entire region.
"This can decarbonise the bulk of emissions from the region as it pertains to electricity consumption," he said.
Green Gravity's technology allows solar power to be stored and reused in old mineshafts. (Supplied: Mark Swinnerton)
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with mining giant Glencore and Mount Isa City Council to allow for immediate development in the region and engineering concept study work has already commenced.
Glencore's Mount Isa copper mine is set to close in 2025.
The company's general manager Maryann Wipaki said Green Gravity's technology would repurpose some of the mining infrastructure.
The project could create 350 jobs and $1 billion in private capital delivered over a decade, Mr Swinnerton said.
Peter Whitbread-Abrutat and Allan Morton recently visited Mount Isa to investigate alternative uses for end-of-life mines. (Supplied: Allan Morton)
Mining research company enviroMETS is also digging for potential mine repurposing opportunities in Queensland.
The company has secured more than $1 million from the Queensland government's Regional Economic Futures Fund, alongside industry partners, to develop a multi-faceted business tool assessing mine repurposing possibilities in the state's outback and Bowen Basin.
"Under the current regulatory framework the mining company actually has to remove [used mining infrastructure]," executive director Allan Morton said.
"We're saying why do you have to remove it? Why can't we reuse that?"
Mount Isa, the home of 12 copper mines, is the epicentre of the North West Minerals Province. (ABC News)
According to Regional Development Australia, Queensland is home to the largest mining equipment, technology and services (METS) cluster in the world.
"Imagine if we have a pilot site that has three or four things happening, and we have Queensland companies that are developing technology … whatever they develop can go global," Mr Morton said.
"What we need is people who are in the regions, who have a real vested interest in in these futures, getting engaged in our project.
"This is not stuff for a shiny tower — this is for people with some dust on their boots."
The Mount Oxide copper mine north of Mount Isa was abandoned in 1971. (Supplied: Lock The Gate)
Pete Whitbread-Abrutat, an adviser in mine site rehabilitation, has travelled the globe to discover the ways mines can be repurposed.
"In north Wales you can go underground trampolining in an old slit cavern or play underground golf," Dr Whitbread-Abrutat said.
"In northern Italy, in the Alps, you can visit a cheese mine … we all thought cheese was made by the dairy industry, but apparently old copper mines as well.
"Good ideas can come from anywhere as long as the system around how we plan mine closure enables those ideas to be considered."