Mining Jobs Newcastle and Hunter Valley Mining Jobs Guide

How big is Hunter mining?

The NSW Government’s NSW Coal Industry 2026-50 report (March 2026) puts the Hunter at 19 producing mines and an estimated 14,437 direct coal mining jobs at December 2025. It describes the Hunter as NSW’s most productive and trade-driven coal region and says approximately 89% of Hunter coal was exported in 2025. Jobs data comes from Coal Services.

That is the Hunter’s share of a state total of about 23,800 direct coal jobs. Our NSW mining jobs guide covers the other coal regions and the metal mines. This page stays on the Hunter.

Which Hunter Valley mines are there, and who runs them?

This list is not complete. It holds only mines for which we read the operator’s own page on 10 October 2026, so some Hunter mines are missing because we could not verify them. It is not a ranking and not a list of who is hiring. Distances are as each operator states them.

Mine	Ownership or operator, as stated	Location, as stated	Source
Mt Arthur Coal	100% owned by BHP.	Five kilometres south of Muswellbrook.	BHP
Bengalla	New Hope Group 80%, Taipower 20%.	4 km south-west of Muswellbrook.	New Hope
Mangoola Open Cut	A Glencore operation.	Wybong area, 20 kilometres west of Muswellbrook and 10 kilometres north of Denman.	Glencore
Ravensworth Operations	A Glencore operation.	Between Muswellbrook and Singleton. Product coal goes to the Port of Newcastle for export.	Glencore
Mt Owen/Glendell	Mt Owen Pty Limited and Glendell Tenements Pty Limited manage the mines on behalf of Glencore Coal Australia.	20 kilometres north of Singleton. The complex holds the Mt Owen, Ravensworth East and Glendell mines.	Glencore
Hunter Valley Operations (HVO)	Joint venture, Yancoal 51% and Glencore 49%, independently managed on behalf of the partners.	Lemington, 24 kilometres north-west of Singleton.	Glencore
Mount Thorley Warkworth (MTW)	Operated by Coal & Allied (NSW) Pty Ltd on behalf of the MTW Joint Venture.	15 kilometres south-west of Singleton. Two adjacent open cut mines.	Yancoal
Bulga Coal	Joint venture listed as Saxonvale Coal Pty Ltd (87.5%) and Nippon Steel Australia Pty Ltd (12.5%).	15 kilometres south-west of Singleton, near the villages of Broke and Bulga.	Glencore
Mount Pleasant Operation	MACH Energy.	Hunter Valley, NSW. The page we read names no town.	MACH Energy

Yancoal’s sites page also lists Ashton in the Hunter Valley, and marks Austar as closed and Donaldson as under care and maintenance. It gives no town for any of them. BHP, New Hope and Yancoal are in our company directory; see the Muswellbrook town page for sourced operations there.

We have not listed Malabar, Bloomfield or contractor-run sites such as Thiess, because we did not read a primary page for them for this guide. That does not mean they are not hiring.

Where does Newcastle fit?

On the pages we read, Newcastle is the port, not the mine location. Glencore says Ravensworth product coal is transported to the Port of Newcastle for export, and the NSW report says about 89% of Hunter coal is exported. The mines in the table are described relative to Muswellbrook, Singleton and Denman.

Where workers live. New Hope says approximately 85% of the Bengalla workforce lives locally in the Muswellbrook, Upper Hunter and Singleton Shires, and BHP says Mt Arthur’s workforce predominantly lives in the region. Living elsewhere is not ruled out, but a local workforce is the norm at these two sites.
Travel. We found no official source on distances or drive times from Newcastle to these mines, and none on rosters or whether any employer runs transport. Ask the employer in the job ad. See our FIFO guide for how drive-in drive-out rosters usually work.
Recruiters. Hays’ page lists Newcastle among the cities with resources and mining jobs available. It does not name the Hunter Valley.

What does NSW coal mining require?

Not Standard 11. That is a Queensland coal standard. See the Standard 11 guide.
Mine induction. The NSW code of practice on safety management systems lists induction procedures for workers at the mine as part of a mine’s safety management system, and says an induction should suit the tasks involved. Each mine sets its own, so ask the mine what it requires before you pay for any course.
Coal health assessment (Order 45). Coal Services says that from 1 January 2026, employers must ensure every prospective coal mine worker and coal mine worker has a health assessment, including chest imaging, on entering the NSW coal industry and every 3 years after. The employer books it and nominates the position and risk category. The Coal Services guide says the assessment typically takes around 2 hours 30 minutes, not including chest imaging, and that employers must allow time in rostered hours or pay the worker for attending where reasonably practicable. Respirator fit testing is optional, and workers must be clean shaven for it.

Our coal board medical guide compares the NSW check with Queensland. For other tickets, browse the tickets and certificates directory.

Closures and what is changing

Mt Arthur. BHP says it announced in 2022 a decision to cease mining at Mt Arthur Coal, and that it is proceeding with a managed process to cease mining by the end of the 2030 financial year. The mine has a workforce of around 2,000, per BHP.
HVO. Glencore says the HVO Continuation Project aims to extend the life of mine from 2026 to 2045 at HVO North and from 2030 to 2042 at HVO South.
NSW policy. The NSW report says Tahmoor and Dartbrook suspended operations during 2025, there will be no new greenfield coal mines, and extensions of existing mines will be considered case by case. It says the Future Jobs and Investment Authority will coordinate an orderly economic transition and support coal regions and workers.

These are plans and policy statements, not guarantees of employment at any site. Check the latest on the operator’s own site before relying on them.

Where to look for Hunter Valley mining jobs

Employer careers pages

Apply through the employer’s own careers page. These links come from our company data. Glencore, Yancoal, BHP and New Hope each have a Hunter mine in the table above.

MACH Energy’s site is the place to start for Mount Pleasant. We did not find a dedicated careers page on it.

Labour hire

Chandler Macleod’s mining and resources page mentions recruiting in the Hunter Valley and Central West in NSW. It lists dump truck and haul truck operators, excavator, dozer and grader operators, heavy vehicle mechanics, and electrical and mechanical fitters among its roles. It names no specific Hunter mine. See our haul truck driver guide for that role, and our recruitment agencies guide for more firms.

Training near the Hunter

TAFE NSW’s Muswellbrook campus page describes the campus as centrally located in the mining and agriculture rich Upper Hunter Valley and home to a mining skills centre. The address it gives is 59 Maitland Street, Muswellbrook. We could not verify a mining course at a Newcastle campus, so check TAFE NSW directly. Our mining courses guide and apprenticeships guide cover other routes in.

Pay

We give no Hunter pay figures. See the salaries pages and the mining salaries guide for what we can source. With no experience, start with mining jobs with no experience.

Frequently asked questions

How many people work in Hunter coal mining?

The NSW Government's Coal Industry 2026-50 report, using Coal Services data, estimates 14,437 direct coal mining jobs in the Hunter at December 2025, across 19 mines. That counts jobs, not vacancies.

Are there mining jobs in Newcastle itself?

The mines we found sourced are near Muswellbrook and Singleton, not in Newcastle. Newcastle shows up in the sources as the port: Glencore says Ravensworth coal goes to the Port of Newcastle. Hays lists Newcastle among the cities where it has resources and mining jobs. We found no official source on commute distances or drive times from Newcastle to the mines, so we give none.

Do I need Standard 11 to work in a Hunter Valley coal mine?

No. Standard 11 is a Queensland coal mining standard. NSW has its own system: the NSW code of practice says a mine's safety management system must include induction procedures for workers at the mine. Ask the mine or its contractor what it requires before paying for a course.

Do I need a health assessment for NSW coal mining?

Yes. Coal Services says that under Order 45, in force from 1 January 2026, employers must ensure every prospective coal mine worker and coal mine worker has a health assessment, including chest imaging, on entering the NSW coal industry and every 3 years after. Coal Services says the employer books it and nominates the worker's position and risk category.

Is Hunter coal mining closing down?

Some mines have dates and some are uncertain. BHP says it will cease mining at Mt Arthur Coal by the end of the 2030 financial year. The NSW report says Tahmoor and Dartbrook suspended operations during 2025, that there will be no new greenfield coal mines, and that extensions of existing mines are considered case by case. It also says about 89% of Hunter coal was exported in 2025.

What do Hunter Valley mining jobs pay?

We do not quote pay on this page because we found no official source for Hunter site rates. See our salaries pages and the mining salaries guide for what we can source.

Sources

Last updated 10 October 2026. Facts on this page come from the sources below.

Job counts are direct coal mining jobs reported by the NSW Government, not vacancies. Mine locations and ownership are quoted from each operator’s page as read on 10 October 2026 and can change. We list only mines whose operator page we read. We do not quote pay, vacancy numbers, rosters or travel times on this page. For the wider state picture, see our NSW mining jobs guide.

Mining Jobs Newcastle: Hunter Valley Mines, Operators and What You Need