The mine had been placed under care and maintenance by Vale in April 2014 because of the adverse market conditions but its new owners will not be rushing to start up operations.

Under the deal Glencore will take control of the underground coal mine and Bloomfield will have the open cut mine.

A Glencore spokesman told International Coal News: “We have no plans to resume operations at the underground mine in the near term. It will remain in care and maintenance.”

The prospects for open cut employment are better but even there it may be some time before production gets ramped up.

“Bloomfield isn't sure about employment numbers yet,” A Bloomfield spokesman told ICN.. “It will be a steady as she goes approach sorting through some administrative issues before that will be known.”

New South Wales Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said there have been around 4,000 Hunter mining jobs lost over the last two years and the region as a whole has reached an unemployment rate of 12.4% - twice the state average.

“Under these circumstances we need to ensure that those deciding on the policies for our industry understand the implications of their decisions go beyond the costs to companies - real people are affected too,” he said.