TWO of Britain’s last three deep coalmines are to close by the end of this year after the government refused a £338 million funding lifeline yesterday to secure their future.

Despite pumping billions of pounds in taxpayer subsidies into the nuclear power industry, the government has refused a grant which would have saved UK Coal’s Kellingley colliery in North Yorkshire and Thoresby in Nottinghamshire.

Both closures are expected by the end of the year, costing 1,300 jobs and with them
the unique skills needed in  the deep coal mining industry.

The move will leave just one deep coal mine in Britain, the worker-owned co-operative at Hatfield in South Yorkshire.

“I’m bitterly disappointed that the government has decided not to support any state aid for Kellingley at all,” said Pontefract and Castleford MP Yvette Cooper.

“This means over 600 skilled men and women are set to lose their jobs.”

Kellingley and Thoresby between them produce more than three million tonnes of coal a year, the remainder of which will be abandoned underground following the closures.

The closures will mean another three million tons on top of more than 40 million imported annually from countries including Russia.

The £338m would have been used to develop new seams and secure the pits’ future for three years, but Business Minister Matthew Hancock said that the cash did not “represent value for money.”

Westminster is prepared only to provide £10m to finance the closure procedure.

TUC leader Frances O’Grady said the announcement did not “resolve the long-term problems facing the UK coal industry, in terms of both jobs and energy security.”