British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta and his GFG Alliance bought the New South Wales underground coking coal mine in January for an undisclosed sum. 

 

The current operator of the mine is GFG Alliance subsidiary Simec Mining.

 

A company spokesman told Australia's Mining Monthly that the mine was yet to resume operations as Simec was still investigating what caused the situation.

 

"The lift is part of the investigation and will only be brought back online once ourselves and the relevant authorities are confident operations can be safely resumed," he said.

 

The mine employed about 340 people including contractors when it was operated by Glencore.

 

In a much publicised deal, Gupta said Tahmoor would provide the Whyalla steelworks GFG bought out of administration last year with coking coal.

 

"The acquisition of the Tahmoor mine is an exciting step forward in our stated strategy to create a fully-integrated, end-to-end businesses in Australia, from raw materials and energy right through to high-value finished products ready for market," Gupta said.

 

"Through this purchase we secure and de-risk an important feed for the Whyalla Steelworks. This, together with our iron ore mines in South Australia, now makes GFG the only fully-integrated Australian steel producer, whether from iron ore and coking coal to primary steel, or from scrap metal and renewable energy to Greensteel."