The future of Lake Macquarie's Myuna colliery is up in the air after Origin Energy announced Eraring power station could close in 2025.
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Lake Macquarie MP Greg Piper said on Friday that the Eraring plant closure could cost 2000 jobs across the community, and Hunter Jobs Alliance called on the NSW government to ensure any support extended beyond Eraring workers to contractors and suppliers.
Myuna opened in Wangi Wangi in the late 1970s to supply coal to Eraring and has no other customers. It transports coal to the power station on a conveyor belt.
Owner Centennial Coal also supplies black coal to Eraring from its Mandalong mine near Morisset and applied last year to the government to extend the life of its mothballed Newstan colliery near Fassifern by 15 years.
The company said on Friday that the Eraring closure had the "potential" to affect Myuna but would have "a very limited impact" on Mandalong.
"We are exploring all opportunities to repurpose existing infrastructure and find new markets for coal produced at Myuna," a spokesperson said.
A Myuna worker told the Newcastle Herald on Friday that the company had three years to find a new market for the colliery or shut it down.
"The bottom line is, if that power station shuts, what do we do with us and our coal and is it feasible any more to be running the coalmine?" he said. "It's an issue, but I'm sure the company has things in place they're looking at."
Centennial chief executive and managing director Craig Gillard will be on site next week.
The Myuna miner said the company had looked after its workers in the past.
"Centennial will have three years to look at what they can and can't do and see what's viable," he said.
Centennial said it employed 260 people directly and 700 indirectly at Myuna. Eraring has about 430 staff and contractors on site.
Mr Piper said a lot of industries served both the mine and power plant.
"You've got pump manufacturers and refurbishment, specialist welding services," he said. "There's little industrial estates which are premised on services to the mines and the power station.
"It will be far-reaching. I don't think 2000 is an unreasonable estimate of the direct job impact, and then you've got the peripheral, so it will be much bigger."
Hunter Jobs Alliance coordinator Warrick Jordan said people's "lives and livelihoods have been flipped upside down" by Thursday's announcement.
"Getting the right supports and delivering on commitments and communicating with workers has to be the absolute priority," he said.
"Any jobs package needs to be very accessible and generous to those people affected down the supply chain and contractors as well."
Mr Piper and his fellow independents in Parliament called three years ago for a transition authority to help communities affected by the changing energy market.
"We were dismissed and even attacked by some about being alarmist. Well, surprise, surprise," he said.
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