Whitehaven coal
16 March 2015
New regional office boosts community presence
WHITEHAVEN Coal is increasing its community presence by applying to open a new regional office in the heart of Gunnedah.
The company has purchased the former Crazy Clark’s building in Gunnedah’s main street and has submitted plans to Council to create a new permanent home in the area.
The proposal is to convert the store into an office for around 30 Whitehaven staff. The site will also serve as a public shop-front where members of the community can access information about Whitehaven operations and community-based activities. It is hoped the new regional hub will be open for business before Christmas 2015.
The office will house a number of group-wide roles such as health, safety, environmental, community, technical services and operational support employees currently based at Whitehaven’s Gunnedah Coal Handling and Processing Plant.
Whitehaven Coal is the single largest employer in the Gunnedah, Narrabri and Werris Creek area and currently employs 761 people, with this number set to exceed 1,100 within three years. Seventy-five per cent of Whitehaven’s workforce lives locally and the company does not support a fly-in fly-out workforce.
Paul Flynn, Whitehaven Coal Managing Director and CEO, said: “As a company with longstanding links to the Gunnedah area, we always seek to ensure that it is the local community that benefits from our presence over the short, medium and long term. Thanks partly to the growth in mining, the region is thriving. As Whitehaven continues to grow, we believe opening an office in the heart of Gunnedah is the natural next step in integrating us further into the community.
We look forward to introducing more members of the Whitehaven team to you, and to making it easier for members of the local community to access information about the company and its presence and plans in the area. We very much look forward to throwing open our doors later this year.”
