It follows news that Glencore will be slashing 40 jobs at its Tahmoor colliery and Wollongong Coal also announcing 152 redundancies at its Wongawilli and Russell Vale operations.

As BHP Billiton seeks to reduce costs across its coal operations, its Illawarra Coal division is under growing pressure with longwall moves at its Appin and West Cliff collieries dragging on production levels.

“In April Illawarra Coal announced it was undertaking an organisational review, which may result in changes across the business,” a company spokeswoman told ICN.

“This review will be concluded by 30 June 2014.

“We continue to consult with our employees on the details.”

While the number of positions affected has not been determined yet it is believed to be less than 500.

In April this year BHP Billiton announced it would be axing 36 jobs at Illawarra Coal.

The company said its Illawarra Coal division continued to undertake an organisational review in response to the company’s ongoing focus to ensure competitiveness and viability of the business.

Illawarra Coal asset president Troy McDonald said the company had advised employees and contractors about the review and the impact on some roles in the business.

“We will work closely with those who will be affected and provide the appropriate support services,” he said.

Longwall moves at BHP Billiton’s Appin and West Cliff operations in the June quarter are expected to further weaken Illawarra Coal’s operational and financial performance this financial year.

The relative outperformance of the company’s Illawarra operations compared to the Queensland metallurgical coal business is waning as the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance in Queensland beds down productivity increases and moves away from the destructive industrial action over enterprise bargaining and the effect of the floods.

Total year-to-date production from Illawarra Coal is 5.2 million tonnes compared to the 6.1Mt for the previous corresponding period.

It compares with BMA, which produced 21.6Mt YTD and 15.9Mt for the previous corresponding period.

BHP Mitsui Coal, which includes the South Walker Creek and Poitrel mines, reported production of 27Mt YTD, compared to the 21.1Mt for the previous corresponding period.

For the three months to December 2013, Illawarra Coal’s production was 1.9Mt, after a horror September quarter in which production fell down to 1.4Mt due to a scheduled longwall move at West Cliff and an extended outage at Dendrobium.