Mine management meeting with Drayton staff over future

Senior management at Anglo American are today meeting with employees at the company’s Drayton mine in the Hunter Valley who are now faced with the loss of their jobs following the rejection of the proposal for a mine extension.

 

Workers at the site are still coming to terms with the shock decision and the way the news was delivered – leaked to a Sydney newspaper before they or management were told. The families of the mine’s 500 employees plus many more in the mining supply chain will be affected by this decision.  

 

The CEO of Anglo American’s Coal business, Mr Seamus French, says it is a ‘shattering’ blow to the local community threatening the continuation of mining in the state of NSW.

 

‘This has gutted our 500 strong workforce and their families. The PAC’s decision will have serious detrimental implications for the Hunter Valley and for NSW,’ Mr French said.
 

‘It is devastating for our employees, it is devastating for our suppliers, it is devastating for the local community and it is devastating for the people of NSW who would have benefited from the annual $35 million in State Government Royalties from the project.’
 

The NSW Minerals Council has been inundated with messages on social media from affected workers who are worried about their future and how they will support their families. 
 

Drayton employee Gabriella Horn told us on Facebook how upset she is to have read the news on the front of the paper.

‘We have been told nothing. Finding out through the media before our mine and our workers knew anything…’
 

Sam Allen told us on Facebook: ‘It may be 500 jobs at the mine but in reality this affects 1,000s more contractors and local businesses as a flow on effect. I’m disgusted and really disappointed by this outcome.’
 

Mr French echoed those concerns.
 

‘We are extremely disappointed with the way this whole process has been handled and the way we were notified about the result. The PAC has completely disregarded the livelihoods and wellbeing of 500 hardworking people and their families and throws the future of mining in NSW into serious question,’ he said.
 

‘How would you like to hear on the radio on your way to work that you don’t have a job?’
 

‘Our immediate attention will now be given to our employees, providing them with support and working through what this means for them.’
 

The Hunter is facing an increasing jobs crisis with unemployment in the Hunter Valley at around eight per cent, which is much higher than the state average. Mr French said that this decision would add to the region’s troubles.
 

‘To reject a project which would continue to provide 500 full-time jobs for a period of 20 years is incomprehensible. For local families, local suppliers and local communities to suffer for the sake of two horse studs, particularly given we could easily coexist, is unfathomable,’ Mr French said.
 

Mr French said the PAC determination flew in the face of the NSW Planning and Environment Department’s report on the project, which stated Drayton South was in the public interest.
 

‘The current planning process, which deals with perception above scientific fact, is damaging communities and threatening NSW’s investment potential. This process, through which decision making is delegated to a small group of representatives rather than the elected government, is a serious concern.
 

‘Right from the start we were committed to coexistence. In the mine plan approved by the Department, Anglo American made billions of dollars worth of compromises, and most recently reduced the mining area and total tonnes from 119 million to 97 million. We moved the mine behind the natural ridge to eliminate visual impacts and address concerns raised by the studs during the first PAC.
 

‘Only one side has been willing to compromise and the other has made it abundantly clear of their intent to put a stop to mining. When the horse studs came into the Hunter Valley it was completely transparent that this was already a mining area with plans for an extension, and they have since invested millions and grown on the back of infrastructure made possible due to the mining industry. We find it difficult to accept it is now an ‘us or them’ situation.
 

‘All the compromise and commitment to coexistence has been ignored in this process. The PAC’s decision will wipe an annual $35 million from State Government Royalties and will have a dire impact on local communities, with the $70 million we spend a year with local businesses taken away.
 

‘There is no doubt that if Drayton South does not proceed, the void in coal production left will be picked up by other international producers with poorer quality coal and less stringent mining conditions which will have a detrimental impact on the environment and take income, royalties and jobs from Australia.’