A ONCE-thriving mine complex entered its last day of production yesterday, marking the latest chapter in the long decline of the British coal industry.

The Selby mines in North Yorkshire have produced more than 120 million tonnes of coal in the past 21 years, but more recently have run up huge losses, forcing owner UK Coal to close them.

Yesterday, the last of the five pits making up the complex ceased production, leaving only nine deep mines in operation in the UK.

The Riccall mine, north of Selby, employed 300 people. UK Coal said many of its miners had already been transferred to other pits, and the majority of those remaining planned to seek alternative careers away from the coalface.

Selby was regarded as a super-pit when it began production in 1983 and was seen as the jewel in the crown of the UK coal industry.

At its peak, the colliery employed 3,500 miners, producing 12 million tonnes of coal in its best year.

That figure was intended to be the average annual output, but adverse geology hindered production.

That, coupled with declining coal prices, led to the complex running up a £100m debt in three years at the turn of the millennium, forcing UK Coal to announce the mine's closure in January 2002.

The company, based in Doncaster, said a review of the complex and an independent study had concluded the mine was no longer viable.

Four other pits at Selby have closed in the past four years, including two earlier this year.

Following yesterday's closure, only a few thousand miners work in deep mines.

When the industry was nationalised in 1947, there were nearly 1,000 pits in the UK, employing up to a million miners.

NUM general secretary Steve Kemp said that it was a disgrace the coalfield was being closed and said he feared the industry could die out within ten years.

He said: "There are millions of tons which are going to be left underground due to the incompetency of the coal employer and the decision by the Government not to take the industry back into public ownership.

"The only way this industry is going to survive is if the Government takes up the cudgel and takes it off this bunch we have now."