Kellingley Colliery

[exdos]

knowing there is plenty of uk coal left down there.

Surely, sitting on a large coal reserve is our nation's "insurance" for the future when other countries fuel reserves are spent.

Fred Dibnah's observation of the decline of Britain was: "We've become a nation of conmen selling double-glazing to each other." How right!

 

[ronk]

A nation of shopkeepers old napoleon said!

 

[cj10jeeper]

Always a sad day when jobs are lost, but no different to any other large factory, shop, business, etc. closing and gone for good.. Society, economics, etc. move and change. And yes I was brought up and worked with mining communities so understand it.

Assuming the £13 figure of cost reduction is correct then with the the colliery running at 900 tons/ hour (bbc news) Say 20 hours per day and 300 days per annum (low estimates) that's a saving of £70m+
They were very expensive jobs, costing £156k each to subsidise assuming no other factors such as ongoing investment to keep the colliery working.

Just adding a different perspective...

I see where you are coming from there cj10jeeper but 450 jobs is just the lads that mined the coal, not withstanding the numerous businesses/staff that also served the mine and have now lost a massive amount of their revenue.
450 job losses could be quite easily be trebled when you take into account the impact it will have on the local and wider economy. A lot of these guys will have visited cafes, paper shops, petrol stations etc etc en-route to work.
They would've popped into local pubs for a swift couple of pints after a gruelling shift. Not no more.

The level headed guys would also, I hope, have had some form of PPI/Redundancy cover in place. Again, in the long run, the insurance companies WILL increase premiums which will affect people not associated with the mine in the future.

The impact of 450 jobs is not just 450 jobs is what I'm trying to get across regardless of the 70m approx it may save the Gov't.

I totally get the external impact of it. Saw it first hand when Rover closed in Birmingham a decade ago. At time it lost 6,000 local jobs and by the same logic treble that locally. Interestingly however unemployment is now lower in both Longbridge and towns than pre closure levels.

University of Birmingham business school, said that in hindsight the closure was "quite good for the city" as it spared MG Rover from "death by a thousand cuts".

End of the day nobody in any industry prevent the inevitable changes that take place, at best they can delay them for a few years.

 

[teamemmenracing]

Just my wee comment ....... and its about world economics .......

using the numbers quoted above, the only reason that we can import coal at 30 pounds / ton is because it costs 43 pounds / ton to mine it locally. Once we are unable to produce any coal ourselves, the 30 pounds / ton will be gone for good.

It is the same with the current oil price, the only reason that the price is so low is because it costs 3 usd/barrel to produce in the middle east and 32 usd/barrel in the north sea and equivalent 60 usd/barrel in fracking operations. Once local production grinds to a halt, oil price will hit a record high.

Politicians only work in the short term for the votes ....... when imported coal costs soar because we have no fall back option, they will just blame the previous government.

 

[exdos]

Just my wee comment ....... and its about world economics .......

using the numbers quoted above, the only reason that we can import coal at 30 pounds / ton is because it costs 43 pounds / ton to mine it locally. Once we are unable to produce any coal ourselves, the 30 pounds / ton will be gone for good.

It is the same with the current oil price, the only reason that the price is so low is because it costs 3 usd/barrel to produce in the middle east and 32 usd/barrel in the north sea and equivalent 60 usd/barrel in fracking operations. Once local production grinds to a halt, oil price will hit a record high.

Politicians only work in the short term for the votes ....... when imported coal costs soar because we have no fall back option, they will just blame the previous government.

So, when the cost of importing coal becomes prohibitive and when the price of oil is at a record high, the UK will still be sitting on coal reserves which can then be mined again and is our nation's energy "insurance" for the future. So closing our mining industry is a sensible long-term plan but with immediate difficulties for the historic mining communities. Personally, I'd say that is sensible management for the greater good of the UK. Having said that, I do feel for those communities, having come from such an area myself, but they do get over their industrial pasts.

 

[TitanTim]

I honestly don't think this country will ever mine coal again, the onus is on phasing oil and coal fired power stations out altogether and forge ahead with renewable energy and nuclear.

Tim.

 

[teamemmenracing]

From my understanding ........ you don't just re-open a coal mine
The same as you don't just turn the tap on an oil well.

Start up costs are huge ..............

 

[ronk]

The pits will be flooded !
I dont think there is a mechanism available for reopening an abandoned mine.

 

[cj10jeeper]

I honestly don't think this country will ever mine coal again, the onus is on phasing oil and coal fired power stations out altogether and forge ahead with renewable energy and nuclear.

Tim.

I'd agree with that. From an environmental perspective we will move away from coal and then any fossil fuels, albeit a slow process delayed by politics and business interests. In the meantime it will never be economically viable to mine again.

I'd also say that given how small the UK is, it's geographical location and periphery to the mass markets we will continue to retreat from older heavy industries (mining, steel, heavy manufacturing, etc.) into higher value sectors. In the end we will leave them altogether to the emerging, less regulated, cheaper, resource heavy countries.

More interesting to me is where we end up when the developing economies catch up in the sectors we 'retreat' to, which they are doing at a good pace.

 

[exdos]

More interesting to me is where we end up when the developing economies catch up in the sectors we 'retreat' to, which they are doing at a good pace.

We will end up subordinating ourselves to the Chinese.

 

[TitanTim]

The pits will be flooded !
I dont think there is a mechanism available for reopening an abandoned mine.

Normally closed mines will continue to be pumped or have a dewatered scheme applied for the foreseeable future and monitored so that any mine water doesn't contaminate the local environment.

Tim.

 

[cj10jeeper]

More interesting to me is where we end up when the developing economies catch up in the sectors we 'retreat' to, which they are doing at a good pace.

We will end up subordinating ourselves to the Chinese.

If you step far enough forward it's inevitable that that will happen to some degree. Their size, economic power, resources, trade surplus, etc. means they and several other countries will ascend and control much of the traditional Western economies. If not politically then economically