Jobs safe at Thoresby Colliery

Thoresby Colliery, Edwinstowe.
Thoresby Colliery site. — Thoresby Colliery, Edwinstowe. Thoresby Colliery site.

Two thousand jobs across eight coal mines, including Thoresby Colliery near Worksop, have been secured for the time being.

UK Coal announced this week that two of its companies had gone into administration.

It comes after a devastating fire that closed Daw Mill deep mine in Warwickshire in March.

Around a third of UK Coal’s revenue came from coal production at Daw Mill, meaning an urgent need for restructuring to safeguard the entire business.

UK Coal Mine Holdings Ltd, UK Coal Operations Ltd and Mining Services Ltd have been placed into administration.

And a compromise has been reached with major creditors and pension providers, with the remaining viable mining operations being successfully restructured.

Their assets will now be held in individual companies owned by a new business, UK Coal Production Ltd.

UK Coal chief executive Kevin McCulloch said he was delighted to have saved 2,000 jobs, but that difficult decisions had been necessary.

“It means that this country can still produce coal on a reasonable scale. It may be a small industry, but when 40 per cent of our energy still comes from coal it makes absolute sense to use as much British coal as possible to help keep energy bills from being even higher,” he said.