The Swiss-based company’s Mount Isa Mines copper and zinc operations are not affected by the closure brought on by the oversupply of coal. 

But federal member for Kennedy Bob Katter acknowledged Glencore could consider a similar closure of Mount Isa Mines if there was a slump in copper and zinc. 

The Swiss-owned company had no obligation to regard the best interests of Australian communities, he said. 

“The people who run this mine are bankers in Zurich, they aren’t Santa Claus,” Mr Katter said. 

“I can understand the company doing what they are doing, but the bankers in Zurich are not going to be acting for the welfare of people in Australia, nor do I expect them to,” Mr Katter said. 

Mr Katter did not blame Glencore for making the decision to halt coal operations, and said he was not criticising the company’s rights.

But the halt was confirmation of the need to “Australianise” mining operations. 

The resources of the nation should be owned and used to benefit Australians, Mr Katter said. 

And he believed this was no longer happening. 

Mr Katter supported foreign ownership when corporations brought in critical technology or capital for projects Australian investors could not raise. 

“That is not what is taking place now,” he said. 

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Glencore’s three-week halt of its Queensland and New South Wales coal mines from mid-December would affect 8600 employees. 

This was the largest shutdown seen in the Australian coal sector. 

The decision came after the spot price of steaming coal fell to $US52 a tonne, which is almost half the price it was three years ago. A coal market analyst quoted in the Herald said: “The reality is that supply has grown faster than demand, due to the high coal price seen a few years ago.”