The CEO of Anglo American’s Metallurgical Coal business, Mr Seamus French, today advised Anglo American would be placing the Aquila coal mine in Central Queensland under care and maintenance from 30 July 2013.
“Based on the current outlook with low coal prices forecast for the remainder of the year, Anglo American has taken the decision to place the Aquila mine under care and maintenance,” Mr French said.
“We continuously review our operational margins and since early last year we have taken out two million tonnes of high cost production capacity as part of this review.
“The closure of Aquila is the next step in this process. Aquila is a bord and pillar operation producing around 0.5 million tonnes of premium hard coking coal per year.
“Over the next month and a half operations will begin to ramp down and work will be carried out to place Aquila mine under care and maintenance from late July, in accordance with mine safety requirements,” Mr French said.
Mr French said Anglo American would work with all affected personnel at the operation over the coming weeks to explore potential redeployment opportunities and discuss redundancy options.
ENDS
Contact Metallurgical Coal Corporate Affairs (Australia):
Jacqui Strambi: +61 439 774 526
Notes to editors:
Anglo American is one of the world’s largest mining companies, is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. Anglo American’s portfolio of mining businesses spans bulk commodities – iron ore and manganese, metallurgical coal and thermal coal; base metals – copper and nickel; and precious metals and minerals – in which it is a global leader in both platinum and diamonds. Anglo American is committed to the highest standards of safety and responsibility across all its businesses and geographies and to making a sustainable difference in the development of the communities around its operations. The company’s mining operations, extensive pipeline of growth projects and exploration activities span southern Africa, South America, Australia, North America, Asia and Europe.
www.angloamerican.com