PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major BHP Billiton on Tuesday announced that it would cut about 700 staff across its Queensland metallurgical coal assets over the coming weeks.

BHP operates seven Bowen basin mines in central Queensland in joint venture with Japanese major Mitsubishi called BMA.

As part of the company’s ongoing focus on cost and productivity, and following a review of BMA’s central Queensland mines, it was found that the operational workforce numbers at the mines were greater than required to safely and efficiently operate the business.

“The review identified that we needed to further streamline our operational workforce to align the structure of the business to better deliver on our productivity and cost reduction agenda,” a spokesperson told Mining Weekly Online.

BMA asset president Lucas Dow said on Tuesday that the coal industry continued to face challenging market conditions, adding that the company had to act to ensure the long-term viability of the business. He added that the coal industry was undergoing a difficult transition, and to be globally competitive, the cost base of the operations had to be reset to improve cost efficiency and longer-term performance of operations.

BHP has maintained its production guidance for metallurgical coal during 2015 at 47-million tonnes for its own share of the alliance production.

Meanwhile, Dow has acknowledged that the workforce reductions could cause uncertainty for employees and the local community, and added that the decision to reduce staff numbers was not taken lightly.

BHP’s announcement has drawn criticism from industry union CFMEU, which stated that the company’s corporate strategy of cost-cutting and demanding ever-increasing production had directly contributed to global oversupply and collapsing coal prices.

CFMEU Mining and Energy general secretary Andrew Vickers slammed the redundancy announcement as “ruthless and an unnecessary attack on jobs”.

“BHP is demonstrating a horrifying disregard for jobs and for the future of central Queensland with today’s announcement,” said Vickers.

“BHP has profited enormously from central Queensland resources over many years, but today they are showing their true colours as a ruthless multinational corporation.”

The latest staff cuts come just a month after BHP announced that it would cut a further 95 staff at its Mt Arthur coal mine in New South Wales, following a 163 staff cut in July.

In February, BHP and its coal alliance partner Mitsubishi cut 230 jobs from the Saraji coal mine, in Queensland, and in April followed this with a further 36 redundancies at its Illawarra operations, in New South Wales.

The miner also cancelled a A$360-million overburden removal contract at its Goonyella Riverside coal mine, in Queensland, putting more than 400 contractor jobs at risk.