This comes after retrenching 70 positions in September and after a futile attempt by the company to offload the open cut mine.

Peabody Energy Australia president Charles Meintjes said: “We have completed our strategic review of the Wilkie Creek mine and we have begun the process of winding down operations.

“We thank the employees at Wilkie Creek for their hard work and dedication. We are committed to minimising the impact of the closure on our employees, their families and the local community, and we intend to work with employees regarding redeployment to other operations where possible.”

Peabody blamed market conditions for its decision in September to prune staff numbers and ultimately to close the mine.

“These actions have been taken to ensure we keep pace with current market conditions and meet sales commitments for the rest of 2013,” Peabody said.

Last year, Peabody was fielding offers from unnamed companies for the open cut mine as part of a strategic divestment process.

Located near New Hope’s New Acland mine in the Surat Basin, Wilkie Creek hosted resources of more than 500 million tonnes and produced 2Mt of coal last year.

Earlier this year, Peabody axed about 600 full-time and contractor jobs across its coal operations in New South Wales and Queensland.

After the Wilkie Creek closure Peabody will have 10 operations in Queensland and New South Wales.

Peabody, which is the world's largest private-sector coal company and serves metallurgical and thermal coal customers in more than 25 countries on six continents, is increasingly relying on its Australian operations to drive profitability.