Independent Queensland coal miner QCoal has begun consultation with workers at the Cook Colliery, near Blackwater in the Bowen basin, after flagging the potential closure of one of the mine’s two underground units.
The colliery, operated by contractor Core Crew on behalf of QCoal, employs about 170 people. Core Crew confirmed on Friday that consultation with the workforce would take place over the next two weeks, with redundancies and changes to existing positions under consideration.
“Unfortunately Cook Colliery has been affected by high production costs, high taxes and royalties and low coal prices and its ongoing operation at its current levels is unsustainable,” a company spokesperson said.
The mine has contributed about A$25-million in royalties to the Queensland government since it reopened in March 2022, but has yet to deliver a profit. QCoal acquired the asset in 2020 and restarted production two years later.
The consultation at Cook comes during a difficult week for Queensland’s coal sector, with both BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) and Anglo American announcing large-scale workforce reductions.
BMA will shed 750 jobs as it suspends its Saraji South operations in November, while Anglo said more than 200 staff would be impacted across its Brisbane office and Central Queensland operations as part of a review prompted by “ongoing market pressures”.