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April 11th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
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The Mackay Area Industry Network (MAIN) in north Queensland says more mining contracts could be torn up as the industry deals with falling commodity prices.
Mining giant BMA yesterday cancelled a three-year $604 million contract with Leighton Contractors to operate the Peak Downs mine in the Bowen Basin.
MAIN director Tim Miles says businesses take that risk on when entering contracts with coal companies.
“Any mine – not just BMA – it’s across the industry, every contract has a termination convenience clause in there where basically they can do what they’ve done to Leightons and terminate the contract at any point at their convenience,” he said.
“It’s quite common at the moment – it’s the state of the industry where we’re at at the moment.”
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) district vice-president Steve Pearce says more than 300 jobs are likely be lost from BMAs decision.
He says contractors are doing everything asked of them by the mining companies.
“It’s the mercenary position we’ve come to expect from multi-national coal companies these days,” he said.
“Not only their employees but the poor old contractors who are out there doing the right thing.
“Really get treated like dirt when the bean counters decided to do something else and I think it’s disgraceful.”
Topics:
mining-rural,
federal—state-issues,
activism-and-lobbying,
mining-industry,
community-development,
regional,
regional-development,
unions,
mackay-4740,
mount-isa-4825,
rockhampton-4700
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-11/fears-more-companies-will-terminate-mine-contracts/4622482
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