The abandoned watery pits of an Australian gold mine will be transformed into the nation's third largest hydroelectricity plant.
The $280 million project in far north Queensland will be an Australian-first once up and running in 2018.
However, converting disused mines into hydropower plants has been done elsewhere in the world, including in Europe and America.
The Kidston gold mine, 270km northwest of Townsville, was Australia's largest open cut gold mine in its heyday, having first opened in the early 1900s.
It was named after Queensland's premier at the time, William Kidston.
Now more than 100 years later, Kidston's great great grandson Simon Kidston has co-founded a company, Genex Power, around recasting the mine into an electricity producer.
"I was always aware of the mine because of the family name connection," he told AAP.
"I also knew it had two very large pits adjacent to each other so when we were looking for a site it came to the top of my mind."
Mr Kidston, executive director of Genex Power, said the reservoirs were of ideal depth and size to build a plant based on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric model.
The site also contains useful electricity infrastructure and permits that will keep construction costs relatively low, he added.
"It's very difficult to dam a river for obvious environmental reasons," he said.
"So when we looked at building hydro in Queensland, we started to be imaginative."
The company bought the site in June last year from Canadian gold mining giant Barrick Gold.
Genex Power will float on the Australian share market on July 8 to raise funds for the project.
It's expected to raise $8 million from institutional and retail investors based on an offer price of 20 cents per share, with 40 million shares to be issued.
The plant is expected to employ about 200 people during construction.
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