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CO-OPERATIVELY owned Hatfield pit in South Yorkshire is to shut with immediate effect, the National Union of Mineworkers revealed late last night.
The pit is one of Britain’s last three deep coalmines.
NUM general secretary Chris Kitchen said the closure was an absolute tragedy for Britain’s deep coalmining industry.
The pit was taken over by its workers, but the government refused to provide a short-term subsidy to develop new coal faces.
The government said such subsidies were not financially in the public interest, despite pumping billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into the nuclear power industry.
Mr Kitchen told the Star: “The men are being told of the closure as they come on their shifts over the next 24 hours.”
The other two remaining pits, Kellingley in Yorkshire and Thoresby in Nottinghamshire, are due to close by the end of the year.
