There’s a modern-day gold rush happening in Queensland that’s turning heads across the country.
In towns like Cloncurry and its surrounds, where the red dirt stretches for miles and the pace of life is usually steady, things are starting to move fast. Old mine sites are being reopened, exploration teams are back on the ground, and investors are pouring in. The reason? Gold prices continue to reach record highs - and it’s changing everything.
Why Is Gold So Valuable Right Now?
Gold has always been seen as a safe bet in uncertain times, and with global conflict, inflation, and economic jitters in major markets, it’s become even more appealing. All that’s recently driven the price to over $5,000 USD per ounce - the highest ever recorded.
This boom in value means that mines which were once closed down or seen as too costly to run are suddenly worth another look. In fact, many companies aren’t even chasing new gold. Instead, they’re heading back to old sites and finding fresh opportunity using today’s technology.
“The highest it's ever been in history. That's probably a pretty good definition of a gold boom,” as University of Queensland’s Rick Valenta noted in an ABC article.
An example of a modern tailings dam designed for gold reprocessing - capturing leftover material from earlier mining phases and enabling new recovery through advanced extraction techniques.
Tailings Reprocessing: Finding Gold Where Others Didn't
Valenta explained that many older mines still contain untapped gold - not because it wasn’t there, but because earlier mining methods couldn't extract it efficiently. He said:
“Methods for extracting [minerals] weren't as good as they are now, so people left a lot of gold behind. In many cases you can go back and retreat the tailings and waste from those mines to extract [even more gold].”
That means old waste piles - tailings - aren’t just rubbish; modern chemistry and machinery can extract previously overlooked gold, reducing environmental impact and leveraging existing infrastructure.
One common method is leaching, where a solution is used to draw out any remaining gold particles. Others use gravity separation or flotation, depending on the type of rock and how the gold is bound to it.
Cloncurry’s Revival
The Cloncurry region is prime ground. According to Valenta, it’s “one of the special places on the planet that has an enormous amount of mineral endowment.”
It already hosts the Ernest Henry Copper–Gold Mine, which contains around 2 million ounces of gold. Now, two companies - Orion Resources and AuKing Mining - are planning to re‑lease around 20 historic gold mines, including the old Mount Freda open pit, which closed during the 1990s gold crash.
A restored portable steam engine on display at the Cloncurry Unearthed Museum - once used to power crushing equipment and water pumps in early gold mining operations across Queensland’s north-west.
AuKing’s Managing Director Paul Williams told ABC News: “With the gold price where it is and projecting to still be strong, that's probably opened up areas that historically were not available for the earlier mining companies.”
“We're operating in a great gold price environment at the moment with access to a huge amount of data from the good work that previous groups have done.”
And the revival isn’t limited to Cloncurry. Projects like Qgold’s Woolgar Gold venture, the Mayfield Mt Isa Copper–Gold Project, and the recently opened Greater Duchess Copper–Gold Mine are all ramping up.
Why It Matters to All of Us
This gold revival isn’t just good news for the industry - it’s great for the region. These projects are bringing jobs, boosting local economies, and breathing new life into remote towns.
Furthermore, you might not live in Cloncurry, but this gold boom matters to all Australians. Gold is one of our biggest exports. It supports tens of thousands of jobs and plays a critical role in everything from finance to technology. We’re the third-largest gold producer in the world, and when the industry grows, so does our economy.
We all know that gold has played a huge role in Australia’s past, but this moment in Queensland is a powerful reminder that gold still has a huge role to play in shaping our future.