THE decision by an international resource royalties company to cease investing in thermal coal is expected to have limited impact on the staff at Whitehaven Coal's Narrabri Coal Mine.
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The London-based Anglo Pacific Group first acquired a royalty interest in the Narrabri mine in 2015 and has since expanded its interests to include other mining facilities in South Australia and Queensland.
The Namoi Valley Independent understands no employees at the mine will be impacted by the move.
However, Whitehaven Coal declined to comment when contacted by the Namoi Valley Independent.
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Anglo Pacific Group said in a statement the Narrabri mine represented seven per cent of its revenue last year, and the number was predicted to fall even further.
A statement on the company's website said the seven per cent was a "significant reduction" on the initial contribution when the company first acquired the royalties in 2015.
"The company's sole thermal coal asset, Narrabri, which was acquired at the beginning of 2015, represented only seven per cent of our revenue in 2019, a significant reduction on the 37 per cent contribution at the time of acquisition," the statement read.
"We expect this to reduce further as we continue to add further royalties to our portfolio.
"This is part of a clear strategy to move towards lighter, greener materials, which encompass environmental benefits and many of which form part of the new wave of technologies around electrification."
Anglo Pacific Group chief executive officer Julian Treger said the decision to move away from thermal coal was pleasing.
"We are pleased to announce this further refinement of our investment strategy which follows extensive discussion by management and the board.
"We firmly believe that a sustainable and responsible mining industry can make a meaningful contribution to addressing the climate change challenge in order to help transition the world away from a dependency on carbon generated energy."
- Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the fact the Anglo Pacific Group are retaining their current investments in the Narrabri Coal Mine, but will not invest any further in thermal coal.