WITH NO confirmation from Vale as to whether or not their Integra open cut mine has been sold, mine workers, their union and the community is left to speculate on the future operations of the mine.
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Adding to the uncertainty the company has also not given a definite date on when it intends to close its underground mine.
Management of Vale provided open cut employees with a detailed plan in regard to the closure of the mine on Friday.
However, the exact date the underground mine is scheduled to stop production has not been confirmed.
The local branch of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) suspects this will occur on June, 28th after contractors have finished removing the longwall and various other pieces of equipment.
“For the second week in a row underground mine workers have been asked to stay at home on full pay,” CFMEU northern district president, Peter Jordan said.
“At the moment it appears they may not be required to return to work at all.”
Mr Jordan said that in regard to the underground operations the company has informed them the mine will definitely close despite various contractual obligations.
“They informed us they will be cancelling a contract to cut coal and paying the $33million dollar penalty that goes with this cancellation,” he said.
“In addition they have not been relieved of their ‘take or pay’ obligations.”
He explained this is the $30 million dollars a year the company pays for port and rail access.
“The fact the company appears to be throwing away around $60 million dollars is concerning and adds credibility to the rumour that the mine has been sold.”
“We are hearing reports that the open cut mine has been sold to a Chinese company, the Shenhua Group who are involved in the Watermark project near Gunnedah and the closure is just about changing the workforce arrangements,” Mr Jordan said.
Although Vale has categorically denied the mine has been sold, he said
Meanwhile open cut mine workers were addressed at a meeting on site on Friday and the staged closure process was revealed.
The first round of redundancies will occur in the first week of July with approximately 50 people scheduled to lose their jobs.
The process is expected to be completed in the second week of August with the final group of workers being made redundant.
“At this stage exactly who will be involved in this first round of retrenchments has not been revealed,” Mr Jordan said.
“It will depend on seniority and what skills will be needed and currently there has been no indication of whom or if any members of the current workforce will be needed for the care and maintenance of the mine.”
Although employees who have managed to secure another job before the mine closes will still receive their redundancy entitlements, he said.
The union will be engaging in further discussion with Vale’s management on Thursday before the company makes another presentation to the open cut workforce next Friday.
During these talks Mr Jordan said the union will be trying to find out more information on behalf of the underground mine workers and if the mine has been sold.
“There are a number of allegations and rumours going around at the moment, so we will be questioning the intentions of the company,” he said.
“The replacement of a local permanent workforce with contract labour is a big concern.”
Vale has told us they will not be re-opening the mines and that if someone else does under changed working arrangements then it is not their concern, he said.
Mr Jordan said unfortunately Vale have not been very forthcoming with information during this whole process and to his knowledge have even been refusing to speak to the media.
The only response The Singleton Argus has received from Vale was a brief statement that said it was taking necessary steps to place its Integra coal mine in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales into care and maintenance.
It is estimated around 500 workers in total will be out of a job when both the underground and open cut mines are placed in to care and maintenance.