"Imminent" Approval Expected For Expansion At Welsh Coal Mine, Despite UK Climate Pledges
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Plans for the expansion of an underground coalmine in Wales could be approved imminently despite pledges made at the Cop26 climate conference to move away from the dirtiest fossil fuel. The Coal Authority is imminently expected to decide whether the conditions have been met to allow work to begin at a recently active deep-shaft site in the Neath Valley, south Wales.
The plans would see an extension to the existing Aberpergwm drift coalmine site that is thought to be Europe’s biggest source of anthracite. A row has emerged since Cop26 between ministers at Whitehall and the devolved Welsh administration over which government office holds responsibility for reviewing and making a final decision on the impending permit.
In 2016, Energybuild Ltd was given a conditional mining licence that would allow the firm to extract up to 40m tonnes of anthracite over the coming two decades. But the company says that if the Aberpergwm project were to go ahead, it would seek to dig up only about 7.3m tonnes at a rate of about 350,000 tonnes a year.
Anthracite (sometimes referred to as “hard coal”) has the highest carbon content of all coal varieties, although it has relatively low levels of sulphur and produces less particulate matter than other forms of coal. It can be used for a number of industrial purposes, but is also burned as a domestic fuel.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/24/new-wales-coalmine-may-soon-be-approved-despite-cop26-pledges