“Among those to be made redundant are 89 staff, 55 wages employees and a further 19 contractors who are additional to the 100 let go last month,” the ABC reported.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union northern district president Peter Jordan was not pleased with how the news was broken to workers on Thursday.

“BHP Billiton, they've had no discussions with the CFMEU and in particular our representatives on the minesite, yet they were out there telling everyone that they're going to make a number of positions redundant at the Mt Arthur mine,” he reportedly said.

"We're disappointed in the way the company has gone about it."

With the ongoing coal market downturn triggering jobs cuts for some time now, BHP energy coal president for NSW Peter Sharpe said the operating costs at Mount Arthur were unsustainable.

“We have been hanging on trying to survive while still maintaining some of the structures that we've had in place and some of the past behaviours and practices, and we've really got to a position where we have recognised that is not possible," he reportedly said.

Sharpe was expecting consultation with union representatives to occur over the next fortnight and reportedly said the changes would be in effect within the next couple of months.

The giant open cut thermal coal mine produces about 20 million tonnes per annum and had more than 1600 employees at the start of 2014.