News: WHC UPDATE 1-Whitehaven Coal to cut 192 jobs at mines purchased from BHP

(Updates with further details and background from paragraph 2 onwards)

Aug 16 (Reuters) - Australia's Whitehaven Coal (WHC) will cut a total of 192 jobs at the Daunia and Blackwater coking coal mines it took over from global miner BHP Group (BHP) , the firm's spokesperson said on Friday.

Whitehaven in October announced plans of buying out the Blackwater and Daunia mines, which are a part of BHP's alliance with Mitsubishi, in a $4.1 billion deal.

It completed the acquisition in April this year. "This proposed new structure will remove duplication of roles, consolidate teams where logical, minimise unnecessary layers of complexity, and support a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities between site and functional teams," a company spokesperson said.

Whitehaven will cut 91 roles across the Daunia and Blackwater operations while reducing 101 contractor and labour hire roles, the country's largest independent coal miner said in an email to Reuters.