Glencore is concerned that it may not receive approval for its 25-year Glendell extension, which employs 300 people and will have to shut in 2023 if its licence is not extended.

To provide "continuity" for those employees, Glencore plans to shift its Glendell workforce across to the adjacent Mount Owen mine, which is presently operated under contract by Thiess, with a workforce of more than 500.

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This would mean 300 Mount Owen workers making way for the Glendell crew, but Glencore says that if the Glendell life extension is approved, then there will be work for all who want it, including existing Mount Owen Thiess workers who would be considered for positions with Glencore.

The major points of the Glencore decision are contained in a letter signed by Mount Owen Complex operations manager Chris Gerard.

Mr Gerard said that with approval for the Glendell extension "uncertain", Glencore had decided to manage its own workforce at Mount Owen once the Thiess contract expired in December 2022, and to shift the Glendell workforce across to Mount Owen.

Glencore has confirmed that job losses are possible, but said questions about the Mount Owen workforce needed to go to Thiess, which employed them.

The letter referred to this when it said: "This decision can provide ongoing employment opportunities for our existing workforce in the region and provide sufficient time for the current Thiess Mount Owen workforce to consider their future options as well."

It continued, saying "as you are aware, mining at the existing Glendell mine is scheduled to wind down during 2023".

"We are still working to obtain approvals for the Glendell Continued Operations Project, which would facilitate another 20 years of operations by mining resources available in the Liddell Joint Venture tenements to the north of the current Glendell operations," Mr Gerard wrote.

"The approval for this project however remains uncertain."

Mr Gerard said planning for the changes were in their "early stages" and the decision had been taken "after thoroughly assessing technical and economic options".

Although Glencore declined to comment on the inference, the plan to shift the Glendell workforce to Mount Owen - displacing up to 300 existing jobs - could be interpreted as putting pressure on the authorities to approve the Glendell extension, which has been in the planning process since at least early 2018. A preliminary environmental assessment was lodged in May 2018.

The Herald reported in January 2020, during that year's summer bushfires, that the application had "galvanised" activists, including Doctors for the Environment, into opposing the project.

Hunter students also protested against the proposal.

The project is well advanced through the process, with Glencore having provided the planning department with it's "response to submissions" report. The next stage is for the Planning Department to issue its report to the Independent Planning Commission.

The Herald is seeking comment from the CFMEU.

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