Opencast mine plans are refused

PLANS for an opencast mine site in the Neath Valley have been refused – almost six years after the application was first submitted.

The plans to extract coal and sandstone from Unity Mine, at Bryncwm near Cwmgwrach, were submitted to Neath Port Talbot Council in May 2013.

A public consultation followed and the applicant, Horizon Mining Limited, was asked for additional information in September 2013, but the company went into administration the following month.

According to a report which went before Neath Port Talbot council’s planning committee on Tuesday, the administrators were reluctant to provide the necessary finance to enable the information to be provided, especially as they had liabilities at the former Unity Mine, now Glyncastle Mine, site, and at an opencast mine site on the hillside at Bwlch ffos.

Planning officers said the administrator was looking to sell the operations at the two mines, and the proposal at Bryncwm as a “package”.

The original plans involved extracting 300,000 tonnes of coal from two seams, and 1.6 million tonnes of sandstone by surfacemining methods over five years.

At the time the applicant said the coal was required for Aberthaw power station.

However, Aberthaw power station no longer accepts Welsh anthracite coal, and officers said alternative markets for the coal from Bryncwm had not been put forward by the applicant.

Councillors voted unanimously to refuse the application.