MINING and development firm The Banks Group has received permission to extract an additional two million tonnes of coal from one of its surface mines in the region.
The Durham City-based firm, employing 400 people, has been given approval for the work at Shotton Surface Mine, in Northumberland, by the county council. Banks Mining submitted proposals to extend the life of the mine, on the Blagdon Estate, to the west of Cramlington, by two years, to enable additional coal supplies to be recovered.
Northumberland County Council’s planning committee has reviewed and approved the proposals. Extraction will finish on site in 2016, with full restoration complete by 2018.
The newly-approved additional work will not require land outside the existing site to be mined, or any increase in daily traffic movements.
Mark Dowdall, Banks’ environment and community director, said: “The mine’s been operating successfully for almost three years.
“We are pleased the planning committee agreed to approve the scheme.”
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