The Kidston Dam, also known as the Copperfield Dam and officially as the Copperfield River Gorge Dam, is a concrete gravity dam across the Copperfield River, located in Lyndhurst, in the Shire of Etheridge, in north-western Queensland, Australia. Situated approximately north of Hughenden and north-west of Townsville, the dam was built in 1984 for the Kidston Gold Mine, initially for industrial water supply.
Following the 2001 closure of the gold mine, the dam was, in 2017, repurposed to supply water for a clean energy hub located adjacent to the dam, called the Kidston Clean Energy Hub. A separate rock-filled embankment dam, Wises Dam, forms part of the Kidston Pumped Storage Project (K2-Hydro).
This dam and its associated pipeline were built in 1984 to supply water to the Kidston Gold Mine. It was build across the Copperfield River, a tributary of the Einasleigh River in the Gilbert River catchment. The dam was one of the first dams built in Australia using the roller compacted concrete technique.
The dam wall is high and long. The resultant reservoir has a capacity of , and forms a surface area of when at full capacity, drawing form a catchment area of .
The gold mine was abandoned in July 2001 and the dam was handed back to the Queensland Government and is managed by the Queensland Department of Energy and Water Supply (DEWS). Downstream properties receive water via a pipeline which was built to supply the mine and associated township. There is also a local arrangement to release water (towards the end of winter) to fill downstream waterholes. This allows riparian properties access to water for stock and domestic use until the coming wet season.
In January 2026, it was reported that the dam burst it banks and caused flooding.
Following close of the mine, a solar farm (KS1) was completed in 2017; and, in 2025, a hydroelectric power station (K2-Hydro) was commissioned. A hybrid wind farm (K3-Hybrid) with battery storage is also planned as part of the Kidston Clean Energy Hub, expected to be commissioned from 2028. The hub is operated by Genex Power.
A 132-kV single-circuit transmission line connects the co-located facilities within the hub to the national grid via a substation at Mount Fox, near Townsville. Following completion of the solar farm and during the planning for the hydro-pumped storage facility, the project signed a ten-year power purchase agreement with EnergyAustralia in 2020, backed by an loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, and an A$47-million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The Kidston Solar Project (KS1) is a solar farm on the former mine's tailings heap. It has been generating electricity into the National Electricity Market (NEM) since December 2017.
The Kidston Pumped Storage Project (K2-Hydro) is a hydro-pumped storage that was commissioned in 2025.
In 2016, it was suggested that the Kidston Dam was a suitable source to adapt for pumped storage hydroelectricity in order to match supply and demand between the solar farm and the national grid. The following year, additional solar power capacity was recommended, with an annual estimate of of pumped storage, at an expected cost of . Completion was initially expected by 2024 at a cost of A$777 million.
At the former gold mine site, two mining pits, being the Wises and Eldridge pits, were repurposed for the hydroelectric plant. The pits contain water with a high mineral content and contamination from the old mining activity. Consequently, water is collected from the surrounding area and pumped into the pits to prevent contamination of the local area. A lined rock-fill embankment was constructed around the original Wises Pit to form the Wises Dam, with its spillway in the form of a pipeline and open channel that connects to the Copperfield River. To help regulate water flow for the plant, a pipeline also connects both the Wises Dam and Eldridge Pit. The upper reservoir for the hydro-pumped storage, Wises Dam, holds of water as active storage, and as extended storage. The lower reservoir, Eldridge Pit, holds of water as active storage, and as extended storage. There is an average drop of between the two reservoirs, ranging from .
The Kidston Hybrid Project (K3-Hybrid) is a planned grid battery, along with a wind farm. If built, it is expected that the wind farm will generate per annum. , the project was being considered for feasibility and financing.
The area is popular with recreational fishers. Since 2001, the dam has seen an exponential growth in the redclaw population. Access for fishing boats is via a steep dirt and rock boat ramp next to the dam wall. In 2017, DEWS installed 14 safety warning sign buoys, approximately off the dam wall, to alert waterway users of the danger of overtopping the overflow spillway.