Queensland coal miner QCoal will close its Cook Colliery underground mine in the Bowen Basin, joining BHP and Anglo America this week by citing the state government’s royalty policy as a key factor in the decision.
The mine employs around 170 workers, through Core Crew’s operational leadership, which are undergoing consultation to issue redundancies and changes to existing roles.
Employees are expected to have an outcome to their employment in the next two weeks.
“Unfortunately Cook Colliery has been affected by high production costs, high taxes and royalties and low coal prices and its ongoing operation at its current levels is unsustainable,” QCoal spokesman says.
Since acquiring the mine in 2020 before reopening for production in 2022, the company said in a statement that it has contributed $25 million in coal royalties to the state government “despite never making a profit”.
As reported by Mining.com.au’s market open yesterday, Anglo American (ASX:AQM) confirmed a number of job cuts across the Brisbane office and in the Bowen Basin as a reflection of growing coal royalties.
Isaac Regional Council shared that the number of redundancies put more than 200 roles at risk.
The news came just a day after BHP (ASX:BHP) announced its intention to place one of its Queensland coal mines in care and maintenance, cutting 750 jobs and indicating the group was reviewing the continued operation of the Future Fit Academy in Mackay.
Metallurgical coal is expected to remain steady in the US$200 per tonne range across 2026 and 2027, after averaging US$235 per tonne in 2024, according to the Australian Government’s Resources and Energy Quarterly for June 2025.
The report expects Australia to decrease its exports volume across the 2024-25 period to 147 million tonnes.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: QCoal
