Mr Morton did his first shift on Tuesday last week and is concerned he will be one of the first to go if the company closes its doors.

“When you are the last one on you’re the first to go,” he said.

“When I went to the interview I asked them about job security and if I would have this job until I retired, and they said I would.

“If I had known this would happen I would never have left Worsley.”

Mr Morton, who is married with two teenaged children, is concerned about the his family’s welfare.

“There is a chance I could lose the house, it is lucky my wife works,” he said.

“If I lose my job I will have to look at fly-in fly-out, but that’s what everyone else will be looking at. I have lived here 44 years so I don’t want to leave now.”

Mr Morton is due to start work on Saturday, but is unsure whether he will be required to work.

This is not the first time job security has been an issue for Mr Morton.

He was made redundant from Wesfarmers Premier Coal in 1995, but was lucky to get a job at Worsley straightaway.

“It is also a concern if new owners take over, we don’t know what they will be like,” he said. “And it’s not just the 500 workers that will be affected, the whole town will feel the effects of this.”