India is to become an unlikely jobs saviour for the Illawarra, with its resilience amid the global financial crisis set to deliver 100 new mining positions.
Just weeks after the CFMEU predicted tens of thousands of mining jobs nationally were at risk due to the crisis, Gujarat NRE Minerals Limited chairman Arun Jagatramka has explained how the Indian company is set to buck trends and expand its Illawarra operations.
In an exclusive interview, Mr Jagatramka said the 400-strong workforce would increase at least 25 per cent.
North Wollongong jewel to be knocked down "I think I am signing at least four to five employment contracts every week or at least every fortnight," he said.
"I would say by 2010 I can easily see the number of people employed with us crossing 500."
India has little coking coal and relies on companies like Gujarat NRE, which exports raw coal from its Wongawilli and No1 collieries in Wollongong, to provide the crucial steel-making commodity.
It is a boom time for construction in the developing country, unlike elsewhere in the world.
"India's steel consumption is a very low level of 50kg per capita, as compared to 300kg per capita in China or 500kg-odd in Australia or 800kg in Japan," Mr Jagatramka said.
"So from that perspective we would expect India's ... steel production to go up by at least five times by 2020 as compared to what it is today."
Gujarat NRE plans to increase its Illawarra annual coal exports seven-fold over the next five years, to 7 million tonnes.
It will spend $500 million developing its two mines, including through the fruitful but environmentally controversial longwall method.
"Longwall mining does result in some subsidence on the surface but what we are planning is putting up longwalls beneath the Bulli longwalls where mining has already been done ... so from the surface perspective you can't expect any more subsidence," Mr Jagatramka said.
He said the expansion of Port Kembla and the unclogging of other ports was crucial to future overseas business investment.
At Port Kembla, figures from the Port Kembla Coal Terminal show the true impact of the downturn on Illawarra mining, mainly due to falling demand in developed countries.
Exports of metallurgical coal found in the Illawarra, fell more than 10 per cent in the final quarter of 2008.
The coal terminal has now revised shipment predictions for the 2008-09 financial year from 14.6 million tonnes to 12.2 million tonnes.
Illawarra Coal, which employs 1000 full-time workers and 1000 contractors, says it is working to minimise mining job losses. In January, its parent company, BHP Billiton, announced 3300 job cuts nationally but said none of those would be in the Illawarra.
An Illawarra Coal spokeswoman said "while demand for coking coal has slowed in response to the global financial crisis, Illawarra Coal redesigned its production outputs earlier in the year to address this".
Meantime, the Mercury understands the Illawarra Coke Company is in negotiation with a Japanese company and hopes to make an announcement on a new supply deal next week.
Illawarra Coke's 49 permanent employees took holidays last month and coke production was suspended after major European customer ArcelorMittal defaulted on a large order, and the price it was receiving for coke sales fell.
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