Whitehaven Coal to cut 192 jobs at mines purchased from BHP

By Rishav Chatterjee

(Reuters) -Australia's Whitehaven will cut 192 jobs at the Daunia and Blackwater coking coal mines it took over from global miner BHP Group, its spokesperson told Reuters on Friday, adding to a slew of roles lost in the resources sector this year.

Whitehaven had announced plans in October to buy out BHP's Blackwater and Daunia mines in a $4.1 billion deal. It completed the acquisition in April this year.

"This proposed new structure will remove duplication of roles, consolidate teams where logical, minimise unnecessary layers of complexity, and support a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities between site and functional teams," a spokesperson for the country's largest independent coal miner said in an email to Reuters.

Whitehaven will cut 91 roles across the Daunia and Blackwater operations while reducing 101 contractor and labour hire roles, the spokesperson added.

The job cuts are likely to impact the relationship between Whitehaven and the workers it transferred over from BHP during the acquisition. In November, the workers had accused the company of not providing them with benefits after the transition, the Australian Financial Review reported.

BHP had nearly 3,000 roles affected after it decided to temporarily suspend the Western Australia nickel business recently.

Miner Alcoa also cut more than 1,000 jobs after it decided to shut down Kwinana alumina refinery earlier in the year.

The firm is currently in the process of selling down a 20% stake in the Blackwater mine. Reuters reported in February that India's JSW Steel is interested in the deal.

Whitehaven shares, which surged as much as 2.9% to A$7.54 during the day, pared some of its gains to close the session 1.8% higher at A$7.46.

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Devika Syamnath)