It is expected 120 positions at the mine will be made redundant immediately with a further 120 jobs to go in June and the remainder to be announced in the September quarter.

The mining giant is closing their 30 year-old mine due to the failure to gain planning approval for the mine extension - Drayton South Coal Project.

Drayton South was rejected by the state's Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC) for a third time in November last year.

The impact of the New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) recommendation in late 2015 to reject Anglo American’s Drayton South project was felt today as the redundancy process at Drayton began.

At that time workers were told the first round of redundancies would be made at the end of March, said Peter Jordan, district president Construction, Forestry, Mining Energy Union (CFMEU).

"But Anglo American are now telling us due to low coal prices and tough economic conditions they have to bring forward the redundancies, " he said.

"So this week those who put their hand up for voluntary redundancies (VR)  will hear from the company.

"And if there is not enough VRs then other workers will get a tap on the shoulder and be told they are finishing up. But whereas those given VRs can work out their time at the mine the forced redundancy workers finish immediately."

Given the the fact the company has brought forward their redundancy timetable Mr Jordan is predicting the mine will close sooner than the planned end of year finish date.

The union is also pressing the company to keep some of their employees on site to carry out the extensive rehabilitation of the mine site. 

We are hearing the company is already standing up equipment, equipment they could use for rehabilitation, he said.

"Look Anglo have the large equipment already onsite to do the rehab work and they have the skilled operators to use that equipment so why not give their existing staff the chance to remain employed," he argued.

"We could have those people work under a new rehabilitation agreement rather than their  existing coal agreement.

"It would make so much sense but we can't get a response from the company. So we are guessing the mine will close, all the workers made redundant and at some later stage contractors brought in to do the rehab."

In a statement released by the company today they state they are still reviewing November's PAC’s report and will respond in due course in line with the planning process, however the recommendation by the first PAC and the resultant time delays has made a transition of the workforce to Drayton South impossible.

Anglo American said  Drayton South would have secured employment for 500 Hunter Valley families as an extension to the existing Drayton operation, which has mined high quality thermal export coal since 1983, for another 15 years.

Instead, operations will now wind down during 2016 and ultimately will ceased by 2017 with further redundancies to occur progressively during the year.  

As mining activities cease at Drayton, Anglo American will focus on rehabilitation commitments as part of the mine closure plan.