GlencoreXstrata restarts Collinsville with fewer staff

31st January 2014 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

GlencoreXstrata restarts Collinsville with fewer staff

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining major GlencoreXstrata has resumed production at its Collinsville coal mine, in Queensland, where operations were halted in September to consider ways of turning the loss-making mine around.

A spokesperson for Glencore told Mining Weekly Online on Friday that the Collinsville mine had begun its 12-month journey to full production, with opencut operations resuming this week under an owner-operator model, which had made 400 contract workers redundant.

The spokesperson said that the company had initiated “substantial changes”, which were designed to reverse two years of financial losses at the operation. These include the move to an owner-operator model, introducing larger capacity equipment, overhauling mine plans, addressing restrictions to the preparation plant and finalising workplace practices.

An initial workforce of 20 has been deployed to the mine, and would grow to about 250 by year-end, the spokesperson said. This would include a contract-worker component.

The majority of the start-up workforce were either former contract workers or from local communities.

“We appreciate the impacts caused by the mine’s temporary closure. But the changes are needed to give the mine its best chance of a long-term future, provide ongoing employment to significant numbers of people, and flow-on benefits to a variety of local businesses and the wider community.

“The mine has now restarted operations, and we are pleased to have been able to demonstrate that we are doing what we said we would do by delivering on our commitment to support the local community.”

At the height of its operations, Collinsville had a capacity of six-million tonnes a year.