Matt Canavan pans Glencore's coal mining cap

Resources Minister Matt Canavan has slammed a decision by one of the world's largest mining companies to scale back their coal operations.

Glencore, which is the largest coal miner in Australia, yesterday bowed to pressure from shareholders to cap its global coal output.

The Swiss company cited "the increasing risks posed by climate change" when it announced it would cap its output to 145 million metric tonnes.

But Senator Canavan was scathing about the decision.

"Last year, Glencore made one of the biggest purchases of thermal coal assets in history," he said in a statement.

"And now they say no-one else should mine coal.

"Call me sceptical but this sounds like just basic self-interest.

"Glencore dominate the seaborne thermal coal market and of course they don't want to let others in."

Glencore has coal operations in central and north Queensland, the NSW Hunter and Illawarra regions and the Northern Territory.

"As one of the world’s largest diversified resource companies, Glencore has a key role to play in enabling transition to a low carbon economy," the company said in a statement yesterday.

"We believe this transition is a key part of the global response to the increasing risks posed by climate change."

It also mines nickel, copper and bauxite in Australia and employs 16,300 people, including contractors.

The tenth largest company in the world, Glencore's shares soared more than two percent on the London stock exchange after the announcement.