PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Coal miner New Hope Group warned on Friday that the company would be making 150 staff at its New Acland coal mine, in Queensland, redundant at the start of next week, unless the state government awarded a mining lease for the Stage 3 operation.
The miner was also awaiting an associated water licence for the Stage 3 operation and approval to continue using the Jondaryan rail facility.
New Hope subsidiary New Acland Coal currently operates the existing New Acland mine as a 4.8-million-tonne-a-year opencut coal mine on mining lease (ML) 50170 and ML 50216; however, the mine’s reserves are depleted. The Stage 3 expansion project will increase the mine’s yearly output to 7.5-million tonnes and will extend the operation’s life by some 12 years beyond the current end-date of mid-2020.
The expanded operation will result in ongoing employment for about 300 employees and 500 contractors. It will also create 2 300 indirect jobs.
New Hope on Friday said that despite the looming deadline, both the company or New Acland Coal were yet to receive any indication from the state government regarding the future of the mine and its workforce, while requests to meet with the Premier have been ignored.
“It’s astounding we’ve heard nothing from the government, its obvious in the eyes of the Premier the New Acland Coal workforce doesn’t matter,” said New Acland Coal MD Dave O’Dwyer.
O’Dwyer noted that the company had started seeking approvals for the Stage 3 project in 2007.