December 02, 2008

Macarthur Coal denies job cuts due to profit slide

Macarthur Coal announced that redundancies at one of its central Queensland mines are not linked to a hefty downturn in profits. Macarthur reported an after tax profit of AUD 66 million for the last financial year down from AUD 150 million the previous year.

The report cited Mr Ian McAleese a spokesman of Macarthur Coal as saying that the job cuts have nothing to do with a lower than expected bottom line. He added that "That is not the case. The job losses are basically linked to Macarthur Coal moving from using a contract miner to becoming an owner operator."

The last of 136 employees who have been sacked at the Coppabella coalmine are expected to finish work soon.