Jobseekers swamp Collinsville coal mine which is set to reopen after 300 were laid off when it closed

COAL mine which closed four months ago, putting 300 people out of work, will reopen this month with a workforce of 50.

THE Collinsville coal mine in central Queensland will restart production by the end of the month, more than four months after it was abruptly shut by its owner Glencore.

About 300 people lost their jobs in the closure and Glencore said it employed 50 people to work on maintenance issues and the company said the majority of these were locals.

It had been swamped with more than 2300 applications to work at the mine.

It has been hiring through a labour firm.

However, it has maintained its push to employ people on contract leaving itself exposed to a fight from the militant union, the CFMEU.

The company said it had four issues to address at the mine which had been operating at a loss for two years.

They were moving the Collinsville project to a new owner-operator business model, the introduction of larger capacity equipment and review of mine planning options, addressing throughput restrictions at the coal handling and preparation plant and putting in place flexible, modern workplace arrangements similar to those already in place at other coal operations in Queensland.

"As we have frequently outlined, we require modern, flexible workplace arrangements before we start operations at Collinsville. We have no preference whether these arrangements are collective or individual,'' a spokesman said.

"We are continuing to do what we have outlined to local community members and the wider region over the past few months: that is, turn around the fortunes of a mine that has been loss-making for nearly two years.

"We are preparing to restart operations at the Collinsville coal mine later this month and continue implementing the changes needed to secure its long-term viability.

"Our plan is to commence operations from January 28 with a group of approximately 50 production workers and maintainers, which will include our own employees as well as labour hire contractors.

"Contrary to some claims being made in the media, we are honouring our stated aim of utilising skills available locally; a high percentage of this initial start-up group is either from the local communities or the Collinsville mine's previous Thiess workforce.

"As we have publicly outlined, we will continue to recruit in accordance with our staged ramp-up of production through 2014.

"We received an overwhelmingly positive response to our call for expressions of interest, with more than 2300 applicants for mineworker positions.

"We continue to believe that there can be a profitable future for mining in Collinsville.

"The changes we are making will give the mine its best chance of a long-term future, providing ongoing employment to significant numbers of people and flow-on benefits to a variety of local businesses and the wider community. ''