Glencore will hire more than 200 workers at its Collinsville coal mine in Australia after scaling back its payroll earlier this year, amid resurgent demand for coal in Asia, the company said on Tuesday.
“We are now seeing increased demand from Southeast Asia for the specific type of coal produced by Collinsville,” the company said.
Less than a year after the coal industry was declared to be in terminal decline as governments tackle reducing carbon dioxide emissions, markets for coal used to generate power and make steel have surged on factors such as China tightening regulations on local production.
Thermal coal prices at the Australian port of Newcastle are up 69 percent this year to $84.20 per tonne, the highest since January 2014.
Prices for metallurgical coal, used in steel making and also mined at the Collinsville colliery, have more than doubled since January to around $200 a tonne.
The 230-strong workforce had been cut by 180, 140 of whom were redeployed to other Glencore mines.
Glencore is one of Australia’s largest coal producers running 18 mines and employing some 7,650 workers.