This underground mine is the primary source of copper production for Kagara in North Queensland, with ore processed at the Mount Garnet copper plant. It also produces zinc and lead. Kagara also produces base metals from the Mount Garnet and Mungana underground mines as well as the newly opened Vomacka open pit. With three treatment plants in operation, the company is targeting zinc production of 41,000 tonnes of concentrate and copper production of 23,000 tonnes in the 2010/11 financial year. www.kagara.com.au

Xstrata Zinc last year approved a $133 million expansion of the Black Star open-cut mine to extend its life to 2016. This is expected to add about 14 million tonnes of ore to the production profile at a rate of up to 4.6 million tonnes per year. www.xstrata.com

BHP Billiton is investigating a multimillion-dollar project to extend the life of this north-west Queensland silver-zinc-lead mine beyond 2019. It has released an environmental impact statement for the project, which would involve a mix of underground and open-cut operations. www.bhpbilliton.com

Cape Flattery Silica Mines, wholly owned by Mitsubishi Corporation, is the world's largest silica sand producer. www.cfsm.com.au

Operated by MMG, a member of the Minmetals Resources group of companies, Century is Australia's largest open-pit zinc mine, producing some 500,000 tonnes of zinc annually. The lower Gulf operation is expected to close around 2015. www.mmg.com

Owners Metals X placed this far north Queensland mine on care and maintenance in 2008. The asset, including a crushing and processing plant, is available for sale. www.metalsx.com.au

This polymetallic underground mine, owned by Kagara, remains on care and maintenance. www.kagara.com.au

This underground copper-gold mine, owned by FMR Investments, is returning to production after a period of care and maintenance. Contractors Barminco began work at the site, about 70km south-east of Cloncurry, in December. www.fmrinvestments.com.au

A $589 million project is under way to extend the life of mine at this Xstrata Copper operation to 2024 through the transformation of open-pit mining to underground mining and magnetite processing. www.xstrata.com

Construction is under way in a $274 million expansion project at this Xstrata Zinc mine to increase production by 30 per cent from 2013. New $35 million crushing facilities are also under construction.. www.xstrata.com

CopperChem purchased this site in 2009 and has upgraded processing facilities with works including installation of a concentrator. www.copperchem.com.au

Xstrata Zinc operates Handlebar Hill outside Mount Isa as a swing mine with the Black Star open cut, sharing fleet and personnel to support production throughput in the Mount Isa zinc-lead concentrator. www.xstrata.com

Operator Citigold Corporation has recently opened up multiple ore headings in the Sons of Freedom cross reef in addition to continued mining on the Warrior reef within the Imperial mining area (formerly known as Warrior Mine). www.citigold.com

CST Minerals, the Australian arm of CST Mining Group, restarted mining at this site north of Mount Isa last year. Copper cathode production, which resumed in November, is expected to ramp up to a rate of 30,000 tonnes per annum by late 2011 or early 2012. www.cstmining.com

Cape Lambert Resources aims to sell or spin-off this asset, purchased after former owner Matrix Metals went into administration. It includes the Mt Cuthbert processing plant and Mt Watson open-pit mine. www.capelam.com.au

Zinc and copper ore from this underground operation is processed at Kagara's adjacent Mount Garnet treatment facilities. www.kagara.com.au

This underground copper mine and concentrator plant, 130km north of Mount Isa, is returning to production after being placed on care and maintenance in 2009. Contractor Barminco has been working on site since late last year and owner Aditya Birla expects to gain State approval by mid-April to start full mining operations. www.adityabirlaminerals.com.au

Incitec Pivot produces about one million tonnes of sulphuric acid each year for use in the manufacture of ammonium phosphate fertilisers. www.incitecpivot.com.au

Xstrata Copper's Mount Isa operations include two underground copper mines - Enterprise and X41 - from which 6.2 million tonnes of ore is mined per annum. The operations include on-site concentrator and smelter facilities. www.xstrata.com

Mt Moss Mining, owned by Curtain Bros, began lump iron exports in 2010 and expects to ship 500,000 tonnes in 2011. http://mtmoss.com/

This underground mine produces zinc, lead, copper and gold, with the ore processed at Kagara's Mount Garnet treatment facilities. www.kagara.com.au

Ivanhoe Australia is investing $30 million on work to allow mining to restart in 2012 after purchasing this copper-gold operation, 195km south-east of Mount Isa, in 2010. Former owners Barrick Australia completed 2.35km of decline development, with only 150m remaining to reach the Kulthor ore body, when the project was abandoned in February 2009.
Ore from that deposit, the Osborne underground mines and their extensions are likely to provide the initial feed for the restarted concentrator. Ivanhoe Australia is also examining the possibility of sourcing additional ore from both the Starra 276 and Starra 222 deposits and the existing Osborne open pit. www.ivanhoeaustralia.com

Conquest Mining gained 100 per cent ownership of this gold operation through its recent acquisition of North Queensland Metals and Heemskirk Consolidated. It is looking at strategies to lift production from an annual rate of around 50,000-55,000oz. www.conquestmining.com.au

Incitec Pivot mines phosphate rock at its Phosphate Hill operation, where the company manufactures about 975,000 tonnes per annum of ammonium phosphate fertilisers (MAP and DAP). www.incitecpivot.com.au

Purchased by mining magnate Clive Palmer from BHP Billiton in 2009, this plant produces about 30,000 tonnes of nickel and 2000 tonnes of cobalt annually for export. www.qni.com.au

Resolute Mining is assessing a $72 million plan to expand the Sarsfield open pit, to be mined in conjunction with ongoing production from Mt Wright. www.rml.com.au

This Korea Zinc-owned refinery outside Townsville produces about 210,000 tonnes of zinc ingot annually and 410,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid. The operation has recently diversified its output to include exports of zinc ferrite and other mineral by-products from the refining process. www.sunmetals.com.au

Owned by Xstrata Copper, this electrorefining plant has the capacity to produce 300,000 tonnes of copper cathode per annum. www.xstrata.com

New owner Conquest Mining has approved trial mining at this former BMA Gold operation as a satellite feed source for its Pajingo processing plant. First ore is due to be delivered by mid-2011. The capital cost of the redevelopment work will be about $6 million. www.conquestmining.com.au

Kagara began production from this open-pit mine in October last year and expects to produce 20,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate from this source in 2011/12. The ore is processed at Kagara's Thalanga polymetallic plant. www.kagara.com.au

Rio Tinto Alcan is conducting a feasibility study to extend its Weipa bauxite operations in an area south of the Embley River. The $1.5 billion South of Embley project would progressively replace depleted bauxite reserves at the East Weipa and Andoom mining areas, increasing life of mine by about 40 years. The project involves a staged increase in capacity up to a possible 50 million dry product tonnes per annum.
It would include new mining areas, construction of new infrastructure including beneficiation plants, power station, warehouses, workshops, barge and ferry facilities, ship-loading facilities and an access road. Construction could start in 2012, depending on regulatory and internal approvals. www.riotintoalcan.com

Majority owners Planet Metals (previously named Queensland Ores) have been attempting to sell this tungsten-molybdenum project, which includes a 150,000tpa processing plant under care and maintenance. www.planetmetals.com.au