A new Upper Hunter coal mine has offered jobs to workers set to lose theirs when another nearby mine closes, as the region’s coal industry navigates job losses and expansion side by side.
Malabar Resources executive chairman Wayne Seabrook made the offer at the official opening of the company’s Maxwell mine on Thursday, located 10 kilometres south of Muswellbrook.. It comes after Yancoal told the roughly 300-strong workforce at its Ashton coal mine last week that the underground operation would close in stages, with a final shutdown in January 2028 due to geological issues. Sixty redundancies will take effect immediately, a further 69 jobs will go in January 2027, and the remaining 146 positions will be cut when the mine closes.
The Maxwell underground mine supports 430 jobs. Mr Seabrook said the company would welcome any Ashton workers looking to remain in the underground coal industry.
“They have the expertise we are always keen to attract at Maxwell,” he said, adding that most of the workforce was drawn from Muswellbrook, Denman, Aberdeen, Scone, Singleton and surrounding towns.
Minister for the Hunter Yasmin Catley said the jobs at Maxwell represented more than a figure on a page.
“It was mortgages paid, apprentices trained, kids in local schools and money going through local businesses,” she said, adding that coal mining’s contribution to the state’s economy was ongoing rather than a thing of the past.
The company said it offers four apprenticeships a year, split evenly between electrical and mechanical trades.
