As part of its strategy to ensure the broader business remains competitive, 10 workers will be made redundant, including executive general manager of business development Peter Kane.

“I would like to extend a generous thank you to Peter and his team for their efforts since joining Whitehaven,” managing director Tony Haggarty said in a statement.

“Whitehaven is not immune to the continued decline in global coal prices and like all coal companies, we are having to make difficult decisions in order to ensure we have an appropriate cost-base.”

A small number of technical services staff will remain in a relocated and smaller Brisbane office to ensure exploration projects are maintained and obligations to joint venture partners are met.

“While our current focus is very much on our existing mines as well as our Maules Creek and Vickery projects, we remain confident of the long-term value of our development assets,” Haggarty said.

“As global coal prices improve, we will continually revisit the status of our development plans.”