Worsening market conditions could lead to job cuts at BHP Billiton's Australian coal mines, the company said Thursday, as slowing industrial activity in China forces global miners to scale back operations.
Global coal output is set to shrink over the next year or two as miners grapple with a combination of low prices, weak demand and currency headwinds, and high-cost Australian operations are under particular pressure.
Australia's mining boom has hinged on China importing hundreds of millions of tonnes of iron ore, coal, copper and other minerals for most of the past decade, but China's economy is now growing at its slowest pace in more than three years.
In a partnership with Mitsubishi of Japan, BHP operates half a dozen coal mines in Queensland's Bowen Basin. At peak output, they can supply a fifth of the world's traded coal.
Earlier this year, BHP closed one of the mines, citing poor profit margins. Closest rival Rio Tinto said in July it was cutting an unspecified number of jobs at one of its Australian coal mines.
"Against a backdrop of increasing costs and falling commodity prices, we continue to focus on reducing our overheads and operating costs," BHP said.
