Britain's biggest coal-miner UK Coal today said that it had extracted 7.5 million tonnes of coal last year which will see it return to profitability after three years of huge losses.
The group hit its production target despite virtually no output from its Daw Mill colliery in Warwickshire during December. It has introduced "more intensive intervention in the day-to-day management of the mine" in January to speed up production.
UK Coal launched a three-year recovery plan last May which has resulted in its selling £65 million worth of property and reducing its debt by 43% to £139 million by the end of the year.
At its other mines, Kellingley in North Yorkshire - where a miner died last September - produced more coal than expected and Thoresby in Nottinghamshire mined in line with production targets.
The group said that it is looking at selling Harworth Power, a business which generates electricity from methane extracted from mines. UK Coal shares rose 2p to 31.5p.
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