CopperString (2032) Project

Project overview*

EIS status	Approved with conditions
Description	Approximately 1,000 kilometres of high-voltage overhead electricity transmission lines connecting the North West Minerals Province to the national electricity market.
Proponent	Queensland Electricity Transmission Corporation (T/a Powerlink Queensland)
Location/s	The transmission line would run between Townsville and Mt Isa with a southern connection running from Dajarra Road Substation to the Selwyn Substation, connecting further south to the Woodya Substation View map.
Local government/s	Mount Isa City Council Cloncurry Shire Council McKinlay Shire Council Richmond Shire Council Burdekin Shire Council Charters Towers Regional Council Flinders Shire Council
Investment	$5 billion
Key features	500 kilovolt (kV) transmission line from just south of Townsville to Hughenden 330kV transmission line from Hughenden to Cloncurry 220kV transmission line from Cloncurry to Mount Isa up to six new substation sites ancillary infrastructure such as worker accommodation camps.
Jobs	up to 750 full time equivalent (FTE) construction jobs 30 FTE operational jobs

* Project information supplied by proponent and subject to change.

Project changes

Since the publication of the Coordinator-General's report on the environmental impact statement (EIS) in 2022, the proponent has applied for changes to the CopperString project.

Read more about the project changes.

Environmental impact statement (EIS) process

Date	Activity
22 September 2025	Coordinator-General stated a new lapse date for the Coordinator-General’s EIS evaluation report of 28 September 2028.
11 November 2022	Delegate for Australian Minister for the Environment and Water approval of controlled action ‘CopperString Transmission Line Project’ (EPBC 2019/8416) subject to conditions.
28 September 2022	Coordinator-General’s report on the EIS ( 16 MB) released. Updated draft biodiversity offset management strategy (August 2022) ( 23 MB) provided since final EIS to inform evaluation report on the EIS.
28 February 2022	The Coordinator-General accepted the draft EIS and the revised draft EIS as the final EIS. Final EIS, including appendices.
12 January 2022	The proponent lodged an updated revised draft EIS
12 October 2021	The proponent lodged a revised draft EIS.
17 June 2021	Additional information for the EIS requested by the Coordinator-General.
23 February 2021	Coordinator-General stated a new project declaration lapse date of 4 March 2022.
21 December 2020 to 12 February 2021	Draft EIS on public consultation. Draft EIS, including appendices.
4 September 2019	Terms of reference for an EIS ( 693 KB) released.
8 July to 2 August 2019	Draft terms of reference ( 647 KB) for EIS public consultation.
14 May 2019	Delegate for the Australian Minister for the Environment decided that the project is a 'controlled action' A project that has the potential to have a significant impact on matters of national environmental significance is called a 'controlled action' and requires approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth).
26 April 2019	Gazettal of 'coordinated project' declaration ( 246 KB).
February 2019	Initial advice statement submitted ( 7.3 MB) submitted.

Read more about the EIS process.

Last updated: 24 Sep 2025