The 10 million tonne-a-year Optimum Coal Mine should be shut because Glencore did not follow legal procedure in the process of cutting jobs, Mines Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi was quoted as saying in a statement from the ministry.
Glencore said in July it would cut 380 jobs and close some of its operations at Optimum.
"The retrenchments ... were inhumanely conducted and disregarded all the legal prescripts which govern the process of retrenchments," the statement said.
Glencore said it had initiated a "business rescue" at Optimum because it was supplying Eskom with coal at prices lower than the cost of production.
Business rescue, similar to chapter 11 in the United States, allows a financially distressed company to temporarily delay creditors' claims against it or its assets.
