It is usually a bit more complicated than that - laws of economics and suitability still play a role in the mining industry
"Expectations are growing that the Griffin Coal mine near Collie, about 180km south of Perth, will be tipped into receivership in coming days following years of heavy losses believed to exceed more than $1 billion......WA, for all its mineral and LNG riches, has low-quality coal compared to the east coast.....It is understood the South32 power plant at Worsley is not geared up to handle high-quality east coast coal after being fed with the Griffin product, and that was a factor in the Graham Kerr-led company turning to imports as what it described as an interim measure".
So basically, the South32 alumina refinery power plant was designed to operate on poor-quality Collie coal to meet its power needs, and one of the two private Collie coal suppliers went bankrupt and the other is required to maintain other industry requirements. Given no local poor-quality coal suitable for its alumina plant power plant South32 is looking for poor-quality coal supplies from overseas to keep running its power plant for now, but it is only temporary. That would be my interpretation but I have no first-hand knowledge. Nothing really to do with the government phasing out coal-generated electricity so far as I can see - that does not affect private coal mines.
To the best of my knowledge even most of the government-owned coal mines have not been closed so far - one Muja C units will be closed this year and the other in 2024, Collie in 2027 and Muja D in 2029. South32 was simply getting coal from a private company (Griffin Coal) that has gone bust - and buyers are apparently waiting in the wings to take the coal mine over at a bargain price.
