As many as 230 jobs will be lost at mining-giant BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP), this time from its Queensland coal division after the company and its joint venture partner Mitsubishi established that staff numbers at the Saraji mine were too high.
Like other companies in the mining sector, BHP has been heavily focused on making its operations more competitive and sustainable by reducing unnecessary operating costs and increasing productivity. This is particularly important as a declining level of demand from China has acted as a downward pressure on the price of Australian hard coking coal, which is currently trading at its lowest value since 2009, at just US$127 a metric tonne. As such, the company sees it necessary to restructure its projects which unfortunately includes cutting jobs.
The BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (commonly known as BMA) is currently the world's biggest exporter of steelmaking coal with more than 10,000 staff and contractors.
