Coal news and updates

Aberpergwm colliery given go-ahead to mine 40 million tonnes despite Welsh Government disapproval

An underground drift coal mine in the Neath Valley is gearing up to mine a further 40 million tonnes of coal, after its application for a mining license was approved.

Energybuild Mining Limited applied to the Coal Authority, the UK Government agency responsible for mines, for a full underground license for Aberpergwm Colliery, near Glynneath, Neath Port Talbot, back in September 2020, and the application has now been approved.

The mine, labelled by Energybuild Mining Limited as the "only source of high-grade anthracite in Western Europe," is now set to be extended so miners can excavate 40 million tonnes of anthracite, which is also known as hard coal, over the next 20 years - much to disapproval of the Welsh Government and local politicians.

The Welsh Government said it "does not support" the extraction of fossil fuels - but because Energybuild applied for a license before control over coal licenses in Wales was devolved to the Welsh Government, it is not able to step in and alter or reject the company's application.

Explaining that further coal mining is not something the Welsh Government can support, a spokesperson said: "We have been clear that we do not support the extraction of fossil fuels and are focused on the climate emergency.

"As the original licence was issued before powers in relation to coal licences were devolved, Welsh ministers are not able to intervene in the licensing process and appropriately apply Welsh policy."

The mine has had a chequered past, with work first taking place there around 1811 and continuing at a relatively small-scale until the 1860s when commercial work at the site began to pick up, with management soon opening further drift mines.

At its height in the 1930s, Aberpergwm employed more than 1,500 people and it kept this momentum going well into the 1970s, thanks to a huge £750,000 investment.

The National Coal Mine closed the colliery down in 1985 and it stood empty for 11 years, until local investors Anthracite Mining Ltd reopened the site.

The mine changed hands once again in 2011, when it was bought by US firm Walter Energy. From then until 20115 it predominantly provided coal to nearby Port Talbot Steelworks, owned by Tata Steel but it was forced to close in July 2015 after Walter Energy filed for bankruptcy, leading to 300 jobs lost locally.

It then re-opened in 2018, creating around 200 jobs, and coal production restarted at the site which has since become well-known in the coal industry as one of the only places to source "high-grade anthracite".

More recently, it was the centre of a battle between the Welsh Government and the UK Government over which authority was responsible for it, and which government could approve or deny applications to extend it.

But the UK Government told BBC news that it's the Coal Authority, not government ministers, that is ultimately responsible for licensing coal mines.

A spokesperson added: "We have taken massive steps to reduce our reliance on coal in recent years.

"Coal now accounts for less than 2 per cent of our energy supply and will be phased out entirely by 2024."