The £165m gamble to bring old coal mines back to life
30 years after last deep pit in Cumbria shut...
DEEP coal mining is returning to a corner of the North of England – three decades after the last pit closed.
Mark Kirkbride, a 46-year-old mining engineer, and his partner Helen Davies (pictured), are planning to open a mine near the site of the Haig Pit on the cliffs of Whitehaven, a small town nestling on the West Cumbrian coast.
Anyone trying to bring coal mining back to the North risks being labelled a lunatic – but that is exactly what they are planning.
In its heyday, mining was the lifeblood of Whitehaven. But the Haig Pit closed in 1986, in the aftermath of the miners’ strike. It was turned into a visitor attraction, but last year even the museum was closed down.
In the old winding house, machinery is now gathering dust, along with yellowing documents and a stopped clock which the pitmen used to punch their cards. But Kirkbride and Davies, 49, are using part of the museum complex as the offices for their firm, West Cumbria Mining, which is promising to revive an industry most thought had been lost for ever.
They are preparing to start digging for coal a few hundred yards down the road in a muddy field surrounded by rows of modest houses, close to The Stump pub. Kirkbride, from Teesside, has the mining expertise, but Helen has been the ‘face’ of the project in the community. She has played a huge part in winning over the populace, working 50-hour weeks as communications manager.
It’s all been a bit of a surprise, considering she only met Kirkbride when she applied for a part-time job, knowing nothing about mining other than what she learned in her geography A-level.
THE UK’s last deep pit mine, in Kellingley in Yorkshire, closed in 2015, and the last new one was sunk in 1986 in Leicestershire. So digging one now is quite a reversal. The first coal from Kirkbride’s mine is expected by the end of 2019 – just over 100 years since the Haig Pit opened first time around (pictured far right).
Whitehaven was once Britain’s second-busiest port, and has some beautiful Georgian houses and a marina, but also some deeply deprived areas, such as the large Mirehouse council estate.
Kirkbride said: ‘I don’t think I’ve lost my marbles yet. We expect to create 500 direct jobs and we want 80pc of those to be people living within 20 miles. In terms of indirect jobs, in the supply chain, catering and so on, in total it will be 1,000-2,000 roles in the area.’
He added: ‘There will be 15 apprenticeships when the mine is up and running.’
Training will start at the end of the year and full-time jobs will pay between £40,000 and £60,000. Locals have flocked to sign up.
The local economy is a big issue in the by-election on Thursday in Copeland, the constituency in which Whitehaven sits. The poll has been triggered by the resignation of Labour’s Jamie Reed, who was at loggerheads with leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The Tories believe they can wrest the seat from Labour, which has held it for decades. Theresa May was there campaigning last week.
The area is heavily dependent on the nuclear industry, in particular the Sellafield reprocessing plant. And there are concerns over the future of nuclear in the area following the heavy losses recently revealed by Toshiba, which is a major player in the NuGen consortium that is building three new reactors in Cumbria.
Mike Starkie, the independent elected mayor of Copeland, says: ‘The mining company will make a huge difference. We have a community of haves and have-nots.
‘The people working at Sellafield are well paid, but we have some places near here where 40pc of children are living in poverty.’
The money for the mine is coming from EMR Capital, an Australian private equity firm. It made an initial investment in June 2014 of £14.7m and it will take about £165m to build the mine and get it into full operation.
Kirkbride added: ‘The idea that coal mining is finished in this country is simply wrong. Britain still has plenty of coal – it’s one of the UK’s richest assets.’
The problem, he says, is that most of it is fairly low-quality stuff, used in thermal power stations, which are being phased out. In Whitehaven they will produce high-grade coking coal, which is used by the steel industry.
The coal produced will be shipped to Europe, which currently imports around 40m tons a year from North America, Russia and Australia. His coal, which will be despatched from Redcar on Teesside, will be cheaper and quicker to arrive. It can’t happen fast enough for Keith Cartner, community co-ordinator at Mirehouse Residents Group, who said: ‘The mine is a whole new employment opportunity.
‘There is training, there is something people can finally grasp to improve their lives.’
Cartner, who spent 15 years down the pit, added: ‘If I were ten years younger I would go for a job there, but I’m 59 this year.’
Kirkbride added: ‘It would be devastating if it didn’t work, massively so. I would feel a huge sense of personal disappointment – we don’t want to let people down.
‘I would expect that if I didn’t deliver for the local people here they would try to lynch me.
‘I want to prove people wrong, to show that there can be a modern 21st century coal mine in the UK.’