On February 8, Anglo-Swiss miner and coking coal producer Xstrata Plc announced that it will suspend production for one week, i.e., until February 14, at the Tahmoor coal mine in New South Wales, Australia, in response a continuing strike over wage demands, various news sources have reported.
About 380 staff and contractors who work at the Tahmoor mine on February 8 refused to work for at least 24 hours, pushing Xstrata to halt operations.
According to news reports, wage negotiations have been going on for the last 15 months between the company and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) representing workers at the mine which produces about 2 million mt of hard coking coal for the steel sector annually.