New Acland mine shutdown spooks businesses as staff laid off

Most kids would hate getting a lump of coal for Christmas but Oakey business owners are wishing there was more of the black stuff to go around after the New Acland mine ran dry.

Flick Food and Coffee owner Clinton White said workers laid off from the New Acland mine will look for jobs out of town and will likely leave when they find one. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Oakey’s main street is a quiet place, but there are fears about rough times ahead after the New Hope Group laid off the bulk of its workers at the New Acland mine.

Clinton White from Flick’s Food and Coffee Bar said he expected some neighbouring businesses would close or sell up in the New Year.

“The retailers will really feel it,” he said.

“The miners will go to Toowoomba to find a job, and then they will move there, whereas until now they have lived in Oakey and at Jondaryan.

“One of my mates worked at the mine. He has got a job in Toowoomba and has moved there.”

New Hope has been slowly drawing down its staff numbers at the mine as its Stage 2 pit ran out of coal.

It had hoped to have the Stage 3 pit operational by now, but it has been bogged down in a long-running legal battle in the Land Court after a coalition of farmers raised their concerns about dust, noise and the pit’s effect on groundwater.

Mr White said Christmas would be the test for most businesses.

“It is going to be a struggle in the next few months,” he said.

“I had planned to open for nights, but I think that will have to wait,”

The legal battle has divided the community and set neighbour against neighbour and friend against friend.

“I have seen how (the New Hope Group) rehabilitates the land, and I don’t see why they are not allowed to dig a third pit,” Mr White said.

“If you go out the back where they used to mine, it’s all beautiful land, but we are struggling and we have a lot of empty shops, and I think there are going to be a lot more closing soon.”

Tiffany Gill from Great Country Pies said the New Acland mine closing down with hit Oakey businesses hard. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Further up Campbell Street, at the Great Country Pies bakery the mood is equally sombre.

Tiffany Gill said the miners were some of the bakery’s best customers.

“We serve up to 20 a day, and they would come in for breakfast and lunch,” she said.

The numbers have slowly dropped off as the New Hope Group laid off about 100 workers in the past year.

From today only about 20 staff will remain at the site to maintain machinery and continue the rehabilitation work.

“It is going to impact us greatly,” Ms Gill said.

New Hope Group CEO Reinhold Schmidt said he regretted the shutdown and hoped his workers would go on to find gainful employment elsewhere.

“Over the past two years they have undergone additional training, been awarded nationally accredited skills certification, received resume and interview coaching and had their pre-employment medical examinations updated, all in a bid to make each person more employable,” he said.