New Century Resources Limited said its initial progress at the Queenstown copper mine had been rapid.

It entered a two-year option agreement late last year to potentially acquire the disused operation from a subsidiary of multi-nation miner Vedanta Resources.

The veteran mine has been on care and maintenance for the best part of a decade.

New Century said there had been site visits, an early contractor review and government engagement "delivering fresh insights and driving prioritisation of the highest value development pathway".

"Clear appetite for Mount Lyell's clean copper concentrate has been confirmed through initial contact with potential customers, reinforcing both the forecast tight copper market through the coming decade and the increasing value placed on the ESG (environmental, social and governance) credentials of the expected product.

"Government and local stakeholder meetings have also confirmed Mount Lyell operations can be supplied by 100 per cent renewable energy, creating a highly sought after green product that continues to expand New Century's unique ESG offering."

New Century said its study team had identified potential for short-term re-establishment of ore reserves.

It said the mine had 107,000 tonnes of copper when it entered care and maintenance.

New Century said it would benefit from infrastructure improvements Vedanta subsidiary Copper Mines of Tasmania made using a state government grant of about $9 million to help restart plans.

Some of the money had been used to refurbish the main decline and minor works.

"Remaining grant funds are scheduled to be put towards de-risking projects, such as the relocation of high voltage power cables from the shaft," New Century said.

Meanwhile, Monash University PhD candidate Tamara Herzog is running a research project into environmental remediation strategies for Queen River tributary Haulage Creek.

"Tamara's PhD project is exploring the effectiveness of passive remediation techniques by using plants (phytoremediation) and wood (biosorbents) to mine the metals from the Queen River," Mineral Resources Tasmania said.

"Passive remediation techniques generally require lower ongoing maintenance and chemical additions; however, are most commonly used for lower metal concentrations and require further investigation for the site-specific conditions at Haulage Creek and the Queen River.

"Experimenting with the pre-treatment of river water, different plant species established along the West Coast rivers and wood waste products, Tamara hopes to find a cost-effective and environmentally conscious option to remediate the Queen River and extract economic levels of metal resources which are literally washing away."

MRT said historic Mount Lyell mining had contributed to elevated metal concentrations in Haulage Creek, which flowed to the Queen and King Rivers and eventually to the King River Delta at Macquarie Harbour.

The research is funded by the Mining Sector Innovation Initiative Program, which MRT manages.

One of the fund's areas involves investigating solutions for mine rehabilitation and remediation.