Glencore to cut 430 jobs at Hail Creek mine

According to Mining News Pro -Glencore has announced a restructure of the Hail Creek coal mine in the Bowen Basin, Queensland that will see 430 jobs at the operation slashed.

Hail Creek’s workforce will decrease from 1360 positions to 930 by the time the changes have been executed in the second half of next year.

Glencore’s proposed changes include a reconfiguration of the mine from a two dragline operation to a truck and shovel site.

The diversified miner acquired an 82 per cent share in the Hail Creek mine from Rio Tinto this year as part of a $2.2 billion deal that also involved the Valeria coal project.

Hail Creek, which includes three key tenements, is 120km south-west of Mackay.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said Glencore’s announcement was focussed on ensuring the ongoing viability of the Hail Creek mine.

“This will help sustain the project through the inevitable fluctuations in the commodity cycle,” Macfarlane said.

“I understand this will be a difficult time for workers affected by the changes. But there is strong demand across Central and North Queensland for skilled workers in the resources sector.”

Macfarlane said Queensland-wide there were about 1250 vacancies in the resources sector, with more than 440 of the jobs in the Mackay and Coalfields region.

“The Queensland coal industry has a strong future, and I expect its highly skilled and diverse workforce, including employees from the Hail Creek mine, will continue to be in demand across the sector.”

In 2017, the Hail Creek mine produced 9.4 million tonnes (Mt) of saleable coal, including 5.25Mt of hard coking coal and 4.13Mt of thermal coal.