MIM Holdings

Last updated

MIM Holdings Limited was an Australian mining company created in 1970 [1] as the parent company of Mount Isa Mines Limited, which operates the Mount Isa mines in north-west Queensland. Based in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland, MIM Holdings owned and/or operated coal, gold, and base metal mines in Australia and Argentina. It also operated lead and copper smelters in Mount Isa, a copper refinery in Townsville (Queensland), a lead refinery at Northfleet (England), zinc smelters using the Imperial Smelting Process at the National Smelting Company located within Avonmouth Docks (England) and Duisburg (Germany), and a precious metals refinery in Sydney.

It also held, at some stages, cross-shareholdings in ASARCO, Cominco and Metallgesellschaft. It sold its interests in Cominco and Metallgesellschaft during the 1993–1994 Australian financial year. [2]

MIM Holdings was responsible for several significant technological advances in the mining industry, including the Isa Process tank house technology, developed at its subsidiary Copper Refineries Pty Limited in Townsville, Queensland; the Bottom-blown oxygen converter ("BBOC") developed at its lead refining subsidiary, Britannia Refined Metals, at Northfleet in England; and the ISASMELT top-entry submerged lance smelting process, Jameson Cell flotation technology, and the IsaMill fine grinding technology, all developed at its Mount Isa Mines Limited operations in Mount Isa.[ citation needed ]

MIM Holdings was taken over by Xstrata for a total of US$2.96 billion (A$4.93 billion), including assumed debt, in 2003, [3] and delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange on 30 June 2003. [1] At that time, MIM Holdings was one of the world's biggest coal exporters. [4]

On 2 May 2013, Xstrata merged with Glencore to form Glencore Xstrata plc. [5]

Related Research Articles

Mount Isa City in Queensland, Australia

Mount Isa is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, based on combined production of lead, silver, copper and zinc.

Falconbridge Limited was a Toronto, Ontario-based natural resources company with operations in 18 countries, involved in the exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of metal and mineral products, including nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum. It was listed on the TSX and NYSE (FAL), and had revenue of US$6.9 billion in 2005. In August 2006, it was absorbed by Swiss-based mining company Xstrata, which had formerly been a major shareholder.

Noranda (mining company) Defunct mining and metallurgy company originally from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada

Noranda Inc. was a mining and metallurgy company originally from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada. It was listed on the TSX under the symbol NRD.LV. After eventually acquiring a large interest in rival mining company Falconbridge, it merged with that company in 2005. The combined company continued under the name Falconbridge Limited, ending the Noranda name. Only one year later in 2006 Falconbridge was acquired by the Swiss-based mining company Xstrata. On 2 May 2013 ownership of Xstrata was fully acquired by mining behemoth Glencore.

WMC Resources Former Australian mining and fertiliser company

WMC Resources Limited was an Australian diversified mining company.

Xstrata Former mining company

Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, England. It was a major producer of coal, copper, nickel, primary vanadium and zinc and the world's largest producer of ferrochrome. It had operations in 19 countries across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America.

Glencore plc is an Anglo-Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, its oil and gas head office in London and its registered office in Saint Helier, Jersey. The current company was created through a merger of Glencore with Xstrata on 2 May 2013. As of 2015, it ranked tenth in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Glencore International was ranked as the 484th-largest public company in the world.

McArthur River zinc mine Mine in Northern Territory, Australia

The McArthur River mine is a zinc-lead mine, situated about 70 kilometres southwest of Borroloola, near the Gulf of Carpentaria in the northeastern Northern Territory, Australia. It is operated by McArthur River Mining (MRM), a subsidiary of the Swiss mining company Glencore. Although discovered in the 1950s, when it was originally called the HYC or "Here's Your Chance" deposit, it only opened as a mine in 1995. Initially an underground mining operation, the mine has been converted to open-cut.

Mount Isa Mines Limited ("MIM") operates the Mount Isa copper, lead, zinc and silver mines near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia as part of the Glencore group of companies. For a brief period in 1980, MIM was Australia's largest company. It has pioneered several significant mining industry innovations, including the Isa Process copper refining technology, the Isasmelt smelting technology, and the IsaMill fine grinding technology, and it also commercialized the Jameson Cell column flotation technology.

Chillagoe smelters Heritage listed smelter in Queensland, Australia

The Chillagoe smelters is a heritage-listed refinery at Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park, Mareeba Mining District, Chillagoe, Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It operated in the early 1900s. It is also known as Chillagoe State Smelters. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

The IsaMill is an energy-efficient mineral industry grinding mill that was jointly developed in the 1990s by Mount Isa Mines Limited and Netzsch Feinmahltechnik ("Netzsch"), a German manufacturer of bead mills. The IsaMill is primarily known for its ultrafine grinding applications in the mining industry, but is also being used as a more efficient means of coarse grinding. By the end of 2008, over 70% of the IsaMill’s installed capacity was for conventional regrinding or mainstream grinding applications, with target product sizes ranging from 25 to 60 µm.

Mopani Copper Mines PLC ("Mopani") is a Zambian registered company owned by Carlisa Investments Corporation and ZCCM-IH (10%). Minority shareholders are spread throughout the world, in various locations.

Great Northern Railway (Mt Isa line)

The Great Northern Railway is a 1,067 mm railway line in Queensland, Australia. The line stretches nearly 1,000 kilometres linking the port city of Townsville, Australia to the mining town of Mount Isa in north-west Queensland. Along with a passenger service called the Inlander, it is a major freight route connecting the Mount Isa Mines to the Port of Townsville. In 2010 the line moved 5.8 million tonnes of cargo, and this is expected to increase significantly in coming years.

ISASMELT Smelting process

The ISASMELT process is an energy-efficient smelting process that was jointly developed from the 1970s to the 1990s by Mount Isa Mines and the Government of Australia’s CSIRO. It has relatively low capital and operating costs for a smelting process.

The George Fisher Mine is a mine located near Mount Isa in Queensland, Australia. It is one of the largest zinc, lead and silver mines in the world. The mine is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Mount Isa in North West Queensland. It mine has estimated reserves of 150.4 million ounces of silver. It was named after George Fisher, the former chairman of Mount Misa Mines.

The Collinsville Coal Mine is a coal mine located near Collinsville in Central Queensland, Australia. The open-cut mine lies in the northern Bowen Basin. Collinsville produces coking and steaming coal for both domestic use and export. Exports leave the country via Abbot Point.

The Newlands Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the north of the Bowen Basin at Newlands about 28 km northwest of Glenden in North Queensland, Australia.

The Rolleston Coal Mine is an open-cut coal mine located in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 600 million tonnes of thermal coal. The mine has an annual production capacity of 14 million tonnes run of mine coal. It is one of numerous coal mines in the Bowen Basin.

Jameson cell Machinery for processing minerals

The Jameson Cell is a high-intensity froth flotation cell that was invented by Laureate Professor Graeme Jameson of the University of Newcastle (Australia) and developed in conjunction with Mount Isa Mines Limited.

IsaKidd refining technology

The IsaKidd Technology is a copper electrorefining and electrowinning technology that was developed independently by Copper Refineries Proprietary Limited (“CRL”), a Townsville, Queensland subsidiary of MIM Holdings Limited, and at the Falconbridge Limited (“Falconbridge”) now-dismantled Kidd Creek refinery that was at Timmins, Ontario. It is based around the use of reusable cathode starter sheets for copper electrorefining and the automated stripping of the deposited “cathode copper” from them.

Sir George Read Fisher was one of Australia's leading mining executives. In 2019, he was posthumously inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in recognition of his eminent business leadership, driving the long-term success of Mount Isa Mines and Mount Isa's growth and development as a city.

References

  1. 1 2 MIM Holdings Ltd (1970–2003). Accessed 31 May 2013
  2. The Employment Relationship, Gil Palmer Gardner, page 518. Accessed 31 May 2013.
  3. Recommended Acquisition of M.I.M. Holdings Limited for US$2,959 million and Rights Issue Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine . Accessed 2 May 2013.
  4. "CNN.com - Xstrata wins $3.2bn MIM prize - Jun. 6, 2003". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  5. Announcement of Glencore-Xstrata merger completion. Accessed 8 May 2013.