UK to end 300 years of coal mining in December as prices slump
Britain plans to close its last deep coal mine in December, spelling the death of an industry that has kept the nation’s economy humming since the Industrial Revolution.
The UK’s last deep underground mine, located at Kellingley, in northern England, will shut around December 15, UK Coal Holdings has said. The company’s Thoresby mine ceased production last week, it says.
The closure of Kellingley marks the nation’s exit from an industry that employed more than a million workers at 3 000 pits a century ago. Since 2000, UK power generators Electricite de France to RWE AG bought more of the fuel from abroad, where coal from Australia to Colombia is cheaper, according to the Federation of UK Coal Producers. European prices slumped to an eight-year low in April.
The closure “follows a long period of difficult trading conditions, largely due to low international coal prices and geological issues at both mines”, UK Coal said in the statement. “Mining at Thoresby dates back to 1925 and Kellingley started production in 1965.”
The UK had three operating deep mines until the end of June. A pit at Hatfield, in northern England, closed on June 30 after failing to get additional government funding to cover the costs of a managed closure that was to be completed next summer, says John Grogan, chairperson of the employee trust that owns the mine.
Deep pits accounted for 38% of the UK’s coal output in April, with surface mines making up the rest, according to the Department of Energy (DoE).
Britain imported 1.9-million tons of the solid fuel in April, compared with domestic production of 757 000 t, according to the DoE. Purchases from abroad covered a record 84% of total consumption in 2014, compared with 21% in 1995.
European coal for next-year delivery to the Amsterdam- Rotterdam-Antwerp region has slumped 73% from its high in 2008.
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