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Welbeck Colliery to close 11th May
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IT is the end of an era at Welbeck Colliery as the pit prepares to cease production next Tuesday after almost a century.
UK Coal has announced the colliery, at Meden Vale, will be closed on 11th May when the last coal face there reaches the end of its life, after being open since 1912.
The colliery had 1,400 working men at its peak but this figure has now fallen to 410 – all of whom were offered jobs in other parts of the company.
Around 170 workers have finished working at the colliery so far, with just 57 taking voluntary redundancy.
And about 70 men will remain working there for the next three months to recover face equipment worth around £6m, some of which will be transferred to neighbouring Thoresby Colliery, then the pit will be decommissioned.
UK Coal spokesman Stuart Oliver said: "Most of the site is owned by Welbeck Estates and there are on-going discussions involving Welbeck Estates, UK Coal, the local authority and other job-creation agencies to determine what the best future use of the site should be to create jobs for the future."
The first shaft for the pit was sunk between 1912-15 at a depth of 660m and it became one of the first million-tonne-a-year superpits.
Mr Oliver said the colliery shared the same seam of coal with Thoresby Colliery, the deep soft seam, but it is separated by a geological fault, so the company decided to continue mining it from the Thoresby side.
He said: "When the decision to close it was taken about three years ago, it had a limited future, for the coal reserves on this side of the geological fault."
The coal face at Welbeck is 300m long and is now reaching the end of its life, while Thoresby Colliery has had a £55m investment made to open up new reserves there, which will keep it open for at least another decade.
Source: http://www.chad.co.uk/news/Welbeck-Colliery-to-close-next.6271723.jp
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