West Cumbria Mining is investing in developing plans for the creation of a metallurgical coal mine off the coast near Whitehaven in West Cumbria to supply the UK and European steel-making coal market, which currently imports around 45 million tonnes per annum.
Cumbria is an area rich in mining history and experience and we will be looking to harness this knowledge in a modern mine, which will have the benefits of first class levels of health and safety as well as a cleaner and more pleasant environment than the previous mines of Cumbria’s history.
Since 2014, a programme of coal exploration, both onshore and offshore has been undertaken, and this has proven the presence of high quality steel-making coal with very attractive properties including extremely low ash and phosphorus. This exploration continued through the summer and autumn of 2017 with the planned drilling of an additional six boreholes offshore.
The results of this exploration work determines details such as the design of the mine, method of extraction and processing of the coal itself.
A planning application was submitted in May 2017, with determination anticipated in 2018.
