To date, cutbacks as part of Glencore’s plan to reduce 15 million tonnes per annum of coal export capacity all involved sites in New South Wales.
This included the announcement to bring forward the shutdown of the West Wallsend longwall mine to mid-2016, its production, job and roster cutting changes at Ulan West and news of cuts that loom for the Mt Owen coal mine (operated by Thiess).
A union official drew press attention to the changes at Ulan West, revealing plans to cut nearly 80 jobs and reduce rosters from 7 days to 5 days for an estimated reduction of 2Mt or production.
While a Glencore spokesman said the company was not providing a site by site breakdown on revised production figures, he restated that the 15Mtpa reduction would impact all sites.
“Changes are being finalised across NSW and Queensland sites; Ulan’s revised production is part of this group target,” he told ICN.
The spokesman also said he believed Glencore had previously confirmed the union’s projection of the number of jobs affected at Ulan West.
On possible timeframes for other changes, which are also expected to cover the optimising, blending and inventory (stockpile) management across its Australian coal operations, the spokesman said it was “still a work in progress”.
He did not shed any light on the potential for job losses in Queensland either.
Cuts to Glencore’s NSW operations are widely assumed to be easier to make as the company has its own rail haulage division in the state, whereas it is exposed to take-or-pay commitments at its Queensland mines.