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Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Coal mining, Renewable energy and Real estate |
Founded | 1974 |
Defunct | 18 December 2015 |
Headquarters | Harworth, Nottinghamshire, England |
Key people | Kevin McCullough (Chief Executive) |
Revenue | £316.0 million (2009) |
£82.7 million (2007) | |
£94.0 million (2007) | |
Number of employees | 2,000 (2013) [1] |
UK Coal Production Ltd, formerly UK Coal plc, was the largest coal mining business in the United Kingdom. The company was based in Harworth, in Nottinghamshire. The company was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The successor company that contains the former property division, Harworth Group, is still listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The predecessor company of UK Coal was founded by Richard J. Budge in 1974 as RJB Mining. In 1994, following the privatisation of the UK mining industry, it grew fivefold with the acquisition of British Coal's core activities. [2] It changed its name to UK Coal in 2001 after the retirement of its founder, having acquired UK Coal plc. [3]
At year end 2008, the company estimated coal reserves and resources of 105 Mt at the mines, of which 45 Mt was accessible under existing five year mining and investment plans. [4] Its most important customers were electricity generators. [5]
In 2010 the company proposed a series of developments, mainly open-cast mining, including the Minorca mine project development in Measham, Leicestershire. [6] However, UK Coal exited surface mining in late 2014, [7] so these plans did not materialise.
In 2012, UK Coal were fined £200,000 after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety laws after a death of a miner at Kellingley Colliery. [8] One deep mine, the Welbeck colliery, in Nottinghamshire closed in 2011 after continuous production since 1912. [9] Another deep mine, Daw Mill at Furnace End, Warwickshire, closed in 2013 after an underground fire damaged much of the facilities.
On 10 April 2014, Reuters reported that the British government was to give UK Coal a £10 million loan to help fund the closure of its two remaining deep mines. The company will carry out a managed closure of the deep mines by Autumn 2015 and will seek a buyer for its surface mines.[ needs update ] UK Coal's difficulties were precipitated by a flood of U.S. coal on to the market, as a result of shale gas development, and by the strength of sterling. [10]
Thoresby Colliery was shut in July 2015, while Kellingley Colliery ceased production on 18 December 2015, [11] with ownership to be transferred to Harworth Estates for future redevelopment. [12]
Three surface mines in North East England were owned by UK Coal Surface Mines Limited (company number 08492512) which went into administration on 14 November 2014. The business was then sold to UKCSMR Limited (company number 09275881). The three surface mines are Butterwell and Potland Burn in Northumberland and Park Wall North in County Durham. [7] [13]
The company moved into renewable energy, expanding into wind farms, which is helped by a large land bank and the desire to diversify into energy activities beyond coal. Wind power offers financial incentives such as Renewables Obligation Certificates. UK Coal, through its Harworth Power subsidiary, engaged in mine gas recovery, to generate electricity. [14]
Harworth Power was sold on 1 October 2012 to Red Rose Infrastructure Limited for £20.30 million. [15] At the time of the sale, it operated 14 gas engines of 26 MW generation capacity supplying electricity to UK Coal and the National Grid. [15]
On 12 December 2012 UK Coal plc completed [16] a complex financial restructuring of the company to secure its future and changed its name to Coalfield Resources plc. [17] [18] The company's operations were restructured into two separate businesses: the mining division (under UK Coal Mine Holdings Limited) and the property division (under Harworth Estates Property Group Limited).
Control of the mining division had passed to an employee benefit trust ("EBT"), which initially held shares representing 67% of the voting and 10% of the economic rights in UK Coal Mine Holdings for the benefit of current and future employees of the mining division. Coalfield Resources initially retained the remainder of UK Coal Mine Holdings's economic and voting rights, but the shareholdings rank behind pension fund debt. [16] On 9 July 2013, following a devastating fire, their largest mine, Daw Mill, was forced into closure. As a direct result both UK Coal Mine Holdings Ltd (UKCMHL) and UK Coal Operations Ltd (UKCOL) were put into administration. [19] The remaining mining operations were again restructured, resulting in the formation of a new business "UK Coal Production Ltd". [20]
The successor of Coalfield Resources, Harworth Group, had no equity interest in the mining business by the time the last two mines were closed in 2015. [21] Harworth Group initially (in 2012) owned 24.9% of Harworth Estates Property Group, with 75.1% having passed to EBT in return for a £30 million cash injection and their financial support to the mines. However, in November 2014 Coalfield Resources announced that it had agreed terms with the Pension Protection Fund to buy back the 75.1% of Harworth Estates Property Group it did not already own and to change the name of the company to Harworth Group plc. This transaction was completed on 24 March 2015. [21]
The company is no longer active in mining. On 18 December 2015 the company closed its last deep mine located in Yorkshire, at Kellingley. [11] Surface mines were sold to UKCSMR Limited in late 2014. [7] Coal extraction declined from 37.1 million tonnes in 1995 to around 7 million tonnes in 2009. [22]
Only the former property division operates as the successor company Harworth Estates (wholly owned by the Harworth Group).
At the end of 2007 Harworth Estates land was estimated to be worth £411 million. [22] The estate assets are primarily in business parks, industrial sites and agriculture, with a smaller portfolio of residential property (residential assets associated with agricultural properties). Harworth Estates manage, develop and regenerate their extensive portfolio of land totalling over 30,000 acres (12,000 ha). [23]
Harworth Estates are now wholly owned by the Harworth Group, which had divested its equity interest in the mining operations before the restructuring of March 2015.
The South Wales Coalfield extends across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen. It is rich in coal deposits, especially in the South Wales Valleys.
Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, until its closure in 2008. It was the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys. It was located near the villages of Hirwaun and Rhigos, north of the town of Aberdare in the Cynon Valley of South Wales.
The Kent Coalfield is a coalfield in the eastern part of the English county of Kent. The Coalfields Trust defines the Kent Coalfield as the wards of Barham Downs and Marshside in the Canterbury district, and the wards of Aylesham, Eastry, Eythorne & Shepherdswell, Middle Deal & Sholden, Mill Hill and North Deal in the Dover district.
The Maltby Main Colliery was a coal mine located 7 miles (11 km) east of Rotherham on the eastern edge of Maltby, South Yorkshire, England. The mine was closed in 2013.
Kellingley Colliery, known affectionately as the 'Big K', was a deep coal mine in North Yorkshire, England, 3.6 miles (5.8 km) east of Ferrybridge power station. It was owned and operated by UK Coal.
The South Yorkshire Coalfield is so named from its position within Yorkshire. It covers most of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and a small part of North Yorkshire. The exposed coalfield outcrops in the Pennine foothills and dips under Permian rocks in the east. Its most famous coal seam is the Barnsley Bed. Coal has been mined from shallow seams and outcrops since medieval times and possibly earlier.
Harworth Colliery was a colliery near the town of Harworth Bircotes in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, England.
PD Ports is a Middlesbrough, UK headquartered port, shipping and logistics company; owner of Teesport, and ports at Hartlepool, Howden and Keadby; with additional operations at the Port of Felixstowe, Port of Immingham, and Port of Hull.
Richard John Budge was a coal mining entrepreneur and chairman of The Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisations.
Selby coalfield was a large-scale deep underground mine complex based around Selby, North Yorkshire, England, with pitheads at Wistow Mine, Stillingfleet Mine, Riccall Mine, North Selby Mine, Whitemoor Mine and at Gascoigne Wood Mine. All coal was brought to the surface and treated at Gascoigne Wood before being distributed by rail. The primary purpose of the pit was to supply coal for electrical power generation; much of it was used in the nearby Aire valley power stations.
Daw Mill was a coal mine located near the village of Arley, near Nuneaton, in the English county of Warwickshire. The mine was Britain's biggest coal producer. It closed in 2013 following a major fire. It was the last remaining colliery in the West Midlands.
Chisnall Hall Colliery was a coal mine in Coppull in Lancashire, England. It was the largest coal mine on the Lancashire Coalfield north of Wigan. The colliery on Coppull Moor was owned by Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company in 1896 when it employed 135 underground and 48 surface workers. The colliery appeared on maps in 1908 as a coal mine with two shafts and railway sidings connecting its 1.5-mile mineral railway to the London and North Western Railway's West Coast Main Line. In 1930, Pearson & Knowles merged with the Wigan Coal and Iron Company and others and their collieries became the property of the Wigan Coal Corporation. More than 1,000 people were employed there in 1933 and more than 300,000 tonnes of coal were produced annually.
Hatfield Colliery, also known as Hatfield Main Colliery, was a colliery in the South Yorkshire Coalfield, mining the High Hazel coal seam. The colliery was around 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of Hatfield, South Yorkshire, adjacent north of the railway line from Doncaster to Scunthorpe northeast of Hatfield and Stainforth railway station.
Open-pit coal mining in the United Kingdom is in decline, and is planned to end in November 2023. Output has fallen every year since 2010. In 2010, the United Kingdom was forecast to produce about ten million tonnes of coal a year from open-pit mines. Most came from Scotland, with the largest operator there being the Scottish Coal subsidiary of Scottish Resources Group. Actual production in 2010 was over 13 million tonnes but this has declined to less than 8 million tonnes in 2014.
Coal mining in the United Kingdom dates back to Roman times and occurred in many different parts of the country. Britain's coalfields are associated with Northumberland and Durham, North and South Wales, Yorkshire, the Scottish Central Belt, Lancashire, Cumbria, the East and West Midlands and Kent. After 1972, coal mining quickly collapsed and had practically disappeared by the 21st century. The consumption of coal—mostly for electricity—fell from 157 million tonnes in 1970 to 587,000 tonnes in 2023 Employment in coal mines fell from a peak of 1,191,000 in 1920 to 695,000 in 1956, 247,000 in 1976, 44,000 in 1993, 2,000 in 2015, and to 360 in 2022.
Thoresby Colliery was a coal mine in north Nottinghamshire on the outskirts of Edwinstowe village. The mine, which opened in 1925, was the last working colliery in Nottinghamshire when it closed in 2015. The site has been cleared and it being redeveloped as a housing estate.
The coal industry in Wales played an important role in the Industrial Revolution in Wales. Coal mining in Wales expanded in the 18th century to provide fuel for the blast furnaces of the iron and copper industries that were expanding in southern Wales. The industry had reached large proportions by the end of that century, and then further expanded to supply steam-coal for the steam vessels that were beginning to trade around the world. The Cardiff Coal Exchange set the world price for steam-coal and Cardiff became a major coal-exporting port. The South Wales Coalfield was at its peak in 1913 and was one of the largest coalfields in the world. It remained the largest coalfield in Britain until 1925. The supply of coal dwindled, and pits closed in spite of a UK-wide strike against closures. Aberpergwm Colliery is the last deep mine in Wales.
The Prince of Wales Colliery was a coal mine that operated for over 130 years in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It was permanently closed in 2002 after geological problems were found to make accessing remaining coal reserves unprofitable, and most of the site was later converted for housing.
Harworth Group plc ("Harworth") is a property developer that specialises in regenerating brownfield sites in Yorkshire, the Midlands, and North West England. The company is headquartered in Rotherham in South Yorkshire. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE SmallCap Index.
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