Mining giant Xstrata has revealed plans to spend $130 million to extend an open cut zinc mine in north-west Queensland.

The company will add another four years to the life of the Black Star Open Cut at the Mount Isa Mine. The Black Star extracts ore from underground mining areas.

Xstrata Zinc Australia chief operating officer Brian Hearne says this expansion will maintain 190 jobs and create 100 more.

"We've invested quite a bit of money in north west Queensland and have been working on the Black Star 'deeps' project for some time," he says.

"This extends that life of the mine by almost four years.

"This year we're currently looking to mine about 4.6 million tonnes of ore from, so it's one of the significant operations we've got here."