The mining giant announced plans in March to suspend operations at the mine, to control surging costs due to declining coal prices. Glencore says that the closure plans has been pushed back to help mining workers get new jobs.
Glencore spokesperson said at the time that continued operations were no longer financially viable due to a combination of lower prices, high production costs at the mine, a strong Australian dollar and geological constraints in future mining areas.
Ravensworth is a joint venture of Glencore, Marubeni and South Korean firm Posco.
The closure will affect underground mining; however, operations at the two Ravensworth open cuts will continue as usual.
Glencore has been holding talks with union officials, and said that the company will make every effort to retain as many workers as possible.
