Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Canary in a coal mine

Good news for Wales. They're opening new coal mines.
Up to 250 jobs are being created at the first deep mines to open in south Wales for three decades.

Unity Mine at Cwmgwrach, in the Neath Valley, is due to begin production within weeks, taking on 60 workers.

Owners of a nearby mine at Aberpergwm say they are close to accessing a large coal reserve, meaning up to 200 more workers will be needed.
I thought coal was just completely out of fashion, but apparently not.
Gerwyn Williams said: "In seven or eight years a lot of things have changed. The price of coal has gone up and Europe is faced with an energy gap.

"We don't think that renewables are going to meet the gap that we've got, so everybody will come back to coal."
Shockingly, there are so few miners in Wales today the company running these new mines might have to recruit Polish miners. Maybe Roddy McDowall is available?