^Qwerty^

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-35124077

What a strange world we live in when it's cheaper to ship coal from abroad than dig it out the ground a few miles away from where it could be burnt. They are leaving most of the equipment down below because it has no value.

I've no connection with the mining industry, but what a sad day.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

Extraction is cheaper in other countries who open cast more than deep mine.

^Qwerty^

Yes I know, and look at the environmental damage it causes.

hodgy0_2

but you can't help thinking deep coal mining is a very 19th century industry

incredibly dirty and dangerous

we sort of should be moving on to better energy generation and storage capabilities

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

This wil come back to bite us in years to come, the power stations that use coal produce a HUGE amount of our power now.

Anyone remember the year of the power cuts?

johned

As above with coming back to bite us and when you import most stuff and are reliant on imports the supplier can name their own price or refuse to supply so britain is on a loser in my opinion.

Scooby.Newbie

Agree, on all counts.

Is very sad to see another industry in the UK being shut down, irrespective of how clean it was, it supported whole communities, the same as the steel industry that has also just gone the same way.

Interestingly, they have just opened up a tin and titanium mine in Cornwall.

Am also amazed at the cost model, get that it is cheaper to get out the ground but has to take into account all the shipping and handling costs.

Personally think that we should have gone nuclear years ago, or better still looked at energy reduction which would negate the need for extra power generation. There is a lot of waste out there, you only have to drive around London at night to see all the office lights left on when empty or drive past SwissTonys house to see what can be done

jaygsi

iTrader: (46)

Same with food, when Jamie Oliver went around UK hospitals he found they were importing most of the food as they thought UK suppliers would cost more. Ended up buying local food for cheaper than importers could supply.

I'd prefer to pay abit extra to buy UK products. I buy my Potatoes from local supplier which works out cheaper than super markets.

hodgy0_2

yes its an odd world when you can catch shell fish in Scotland

ship them to Poland to be processed, then ship them back to Scotland to be sold in the supermarkets

and presumably cheaper than doing it all in scotland

wrx300scooby

I too believe that it will be something that will regretted in time to come, there's plenty of coal down there.

On another note, there's a factory near me which produces ice and ship it all over Europe

^Qwerty^

I'm awaiting a reply from the DECC on how in September when it was announced that Eggbrough power station was to close in March, they said it wouldn't affect the security of the UK's energy supplies. Role in to December and somebody has re-done the basic arithmetic and realised they can't afford for it to shut for fear of black outs, yet the company that run it can't afford to keep going due to the carbon taxes. What a perverse situation.

coupe_20vt

iTrader: (2)

Yes I remember the 3 day week, striking public workers, bins not emptied for weeks and power cuts caused by coal running out due to striking miners.

Ahhhh those were the days.

Tony Harrington

iTrader: (8)

Absolutely devastating to the local communities.

I was listen to one of the miners on his very last shift saying that there is a slump in the price of coal, now it's at £30 in the 70's it was £27. This means that the utility companies are raking in huge profits because they are not charging 70's prices!

Again it affects the generations who have worked there all their lives & know nothing else. There are young guys who were told they had jobs for life a few years ago with kids & mortgages.... what now!

Such a sad sad day indeed in my book

neil-h

Agreed. The U.K. Coal industry has been on borrowed time for a while.

johned

Left school and went down the pit and my only regret is that the pits have been closed and we did not listen hard enough to arthur scargill.

hodgy0_2

The problem is we don't seem to have a cohesive industrial policy - no plan b

I echo the sadness expressed by posters at workers being tossed onto the scrap heap - with the associated social costs (financial and community)

Scooby.Newbie

I have been to the Osram LED wafer plant in Regensburg, very high tech, low carbon industry, the wafers go from there to a packaging plant in Penang, and then to a clearing house in Leipzig to be delivered back a couple of miles down the road to be fitted into cars at the BMW plant you can see from the Osram factory.

But is green tech, am sure they carbon offset the air miles

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Thank Mrs Thatcher for that...all out utilities sold off for a Tory feelgood factor, now making gazillions for the shareholders and subsidising foreign energy bills.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Sadly, the truth is that you listened too hard to a man with an agenda which wasn't keeping mines open.

The Tories said thankyou very much and used it to shut the mines.

johned

Are you saying that Arthur Scargill wanted the mines closed?.

jebi se

Arthur Scargill wanted to rule the world, that was the problem.

johned

?.

Scooby.Newbie

Not sure about that, think that Thatcher sold out the minors and other industries. and worst of all stole our milk!

Although my daughter gets free milk at school until she is five, so maybe we going back in time

johned

Harold macmillan`s speech on selling off the family silver was a true lesson in my opinion.

neil-h

Well that took longer than expected.

c_maguire

Like nuclear perhaps?

hodgy0_2

sure, I would be happy to see a proper informed debate about Nuclear (fusion and fission)

I am happy to admit I don't know the answer

neil-h

We ultimately need fission as a short term answer.

Fusion may get there one day but there are technological/physical/financial issues which will need to be overcame and that's without the wider economic argument about replacing fossil fuels.

johned

Whats wrong with dirty and dangerous?.

hodgy0_2

nothing


in a woman