UK Coal says Daw Mill unlikely to reopen after fire
THE chief executive of UK Coal says the chances of operations resuming at its Daw Mill pit in Warwickshire following Friday’s fire are slim.
Up to 800 jobs would be lost if, as now seems likely, the mine closes for good.
More than 100 miners were evacuated from Daw Mill Colliery after the blaze broke out 1,770 ft below the surface on Friday afternoon.
Kevin McCullough of UK Coal said: “This fire is on a scale not seen for decades – the industry has seen nothing like it for between 30 and 50 years.”
UK Coal said it would take anything from three to six months to resume mining at Daw Mill because of the fire.
McCullough said: “Given it will now be closed for a number of months, the re-ality of us ever getting in there to mine commercially again is very, very slim,” said Mr McCullough.
The fire was caused by spontaneous combustion at an old coalface where sal-vage work was being carried out.
Daw Mill’s future has been the subject of uncertainty over the last year.
In March 2012 UK Coal announced a restructuring was needed to safeguard the entire business. And in December the firm completed a restructuring which it said would safeguard 2,500 jobs.
