The current Boggabri mine operator, Downer Group, was notified last week its contract would not be renewed once it expired at the end of the November, with mine owner Idemitsu finalising negotiations with multi-billion dollar company BGC Group.

Workers are unsure if they’ll have to reapply for their job, or if it will still exist under the new operator.

Boggabri Business and Community Progress Association president John Shaw said given workers were only told of the news last week with relatively few details, there was a fair amount of “uncertainty” around the town.

“The general feeling in the community as I go around, people are saying to me ‘we hope local people aren’t going to lose their jobs’,” Mr Shaw said.

“The Boggabri Business and Community Progress Association would not like to think any locals are going to lose their job.”

A large portion of the Boggabri coal mine’s staff live in Gunnedah, but make the 30-minute commute to the mine.

While Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce president Michael Broekman couldn’t comment specifically on the Boggabri contract transition without more details, he said the region had seen this sort of thing happen before.

“Often the vast majority of the workforce is reemployed under the new contractor, given they are highly skilled in skills that are hard to find and they have valuable knowledge of the operation,” Mr Broekman said.

“The chamber will follow the story to see how it pans out into the future.

“Lots of the staff working at the mine live and reside in Gunnedah, and spend their hard-earned cash in businesses around the town.”

CFMEU, the union that represents about 350 of the mine’s staff, has a number of concerns which are yet to be allayed. BGC has not respond to The NVI’s questions.