WA government pushes for merger of state's last two private coal mines

The WA government is pushing for the state's last remaining privately-owned coal mines to merge ahead of its self-imposed 2030 deadline to retire all state-owned coal power stations.

The merger would see Indian owned Griffin Coal and Chinese-owned Premier Coal become one entity, which would supply coal to the private Bluewaters power station.

The final decision on the merger lies with the mining companies, but Premier Roger Cook said he was confident an agreement would be reached.

Deadline remains firm

The state government announced in 2022 it would be retiring all state-owned coal-fired power by 2030.

In April, Premier Coal, which supplies the state-owned power stations, announced the loss of between 70 and 100 jobs at its mine site near Collie, citing slowing demand for coal-fired power.

Meanwhile, Griffin Coal has been propped up by WA taxpayers since 2022 when the company was placed into receivership amid fears its collapse could place the Perth and South-West electricity system at risk of blackouts and jeopardise hundreds of local jobs.

In the past five years, the state government has spent $240 million keeping the privately owned miner afloat.

"I don't know where they'll get coal from because we won't be subsidising the coal mines as we do at the moment," Mr Cook said.

As state support ends, local Labor member Jodie Hanns has continued to call for federal backing.

"The federal government stepped in and supported a number of other projects around the country, including Whyalla," she said.

"It is now time for our transitioning workers to be supported by the federal government."

Merger recommended

The state government has so far committed $700 million to decommission state-owned power plants and transition the coal-mining town of Collie, in the state's south west, into other industries.

It formed the Collie Basin Consolidation Taskforce in January to recommend a future structure for the state's remaining two coal assets.

Comprised of mine operators, lenders, major customers, unions and government representatives, it recommended a merger.

Mr Cook conceded managing the future of the coal miners was a "complex issue", but the merger would have its benefits.

"It gives you economies of scale … it allows you to blend your workforce so you can have your older workers start to retire from the industry and continue to consolidate the other skilled workers that you have," he said.

Shadow state energy minister Steve Thomas said today's announcement lacked detail.

"We have been talking about the advantages of fully integrating the coal companies at Collie for more than 15 years, and this report gets us no further," Mr Thomas said.

"It will probably cost the state government hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars to get [the miners] out."

Renewable future still distant

The WA government's $230-million Collie Industrial Transition Fund has laid the groundwork for several new industries, but few have reached a final investment decision.

Today, a further $58 million in funding for the coal town was announced for rehabilitation, road infrastructure and workforce transition initiatives, including targeted voluntary redundancy measures.

Major projects slated for Collie include Generation Steel's green steel, International Graphite's downstream processing facility, and Magnium Australia's magnesium refinery.

Collie Shire President Ian Miffling said while the new industries were promising, they may arrive too late to smoothly transition coal workers into new jobs.

"The potential new industries are in their infancy, and they've got to work through all of their financing," he said.