when it comes to actions over Georgia

(4) COAL MAY PLAY MAJOR ROLE AGAIN IN BRITAIN'S ENERGY MIX

The Guardian, 29 August 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/29/ukcoal.mining

Mark Milner

UK Coal is seeking to cash in on rising energy prices through higher production and the end of long-term, low-priced legacy contracts.

The company is already investing £55m each in its collieries at Thoresby in Nottinghamshire and Kellingley in West Yorkshire to open up new reserves and is expected to decide within the next six months whether to reopen the Harworth mine near Doncaster, which has been mothballed for more than two years.

Chief executive Jon Lloyd said he believed it was accepted that in the face of higher energy prices, and despite the impact of the large combustion plants directive, which limits power station emissions, coal would play a "significant and perhaps major part in the UK's energy mix over the next two decades".

"There will be environmental challenges but frankly it's a political must to keep the lights on," Lloyd said.

He said the company would decide on Harworth either late this year or in the first quarter of 2009. If it was reopened, at a cost of up to £175m, it would eventually provide another 2.2 m to 2.3 m tonnes of coal a year. The key factors would be the geology, which would determine the cost of accessing the reserves, and their size - thought to be 25m to 40m tonnes.

FULL STORY at http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/29/ukcoal.mining