mining - the only strategy is closure
WORKERS, APR 2005 ISSUE
Ellington Pit in Northumberland has closed due to geological problems with a loss of 520 jobs. Kellingley in West Yorkshire is at death's door, having haemorrhaged jobs from 3,000 to 300.
If a new coalface had been opened as demanded by the miners' union this problem would not exist. Because Kellingley is being destroyed, Drax Power Station, Britain's largest coal-burning station, which sits on top of the now closed Selby coalfield, cannot be supplied by UK Coal! To import foreign coal will cost Drax an additional £16 million over the next two years.
Wellbeck Colliery in Nottinghamshire was also to be closed due to 'geological' reasons, but then was miraculously reprieved when the miners agreed to a new 40% increase in productivity. To the sound of violins UK Coal announced losses of £52 million — strange when the world price and demand for coal continues to rise. You cannot sell coal if you do not mine it. You cannot sell coal if you do not invest or simply close mines. Yet these are the strategies adopted by UK Coal.
UK Coal has blamed industrial action by the miners for the drop in profitability. But the industrial action at Kellingley was to save the pit, save the production and, ironically, save their profits. The real problem is UK Coal, which manages an industry and production it does not want. UK Coal openly acknowledges that the management of maintenance programmes was terrible. No maintenance means no pit.
As the 20th anniversary of the 1984-85 miners' strike passes by, with the subsequent privatisation of a decimated coal industry, no strategy for coal means that the only strategy is closure. The number of pits is less than ten and dropping. UK Coal sits on the largest real estate portfolio in the country, which is where they see their future market role and profitability.