Hargreaves sells Hatfield Colliery to miners’ trust

The mine was sold to Hatfield Colliery Partnership by Hargreaves Services, which will no longer manage the mine, but will continue to buy some of the coal it produces.

Hargreaves said any future services or equipment provided by Hargreaves will be carried out on an arm’s length commercial basis.

Hargreaves carried out a raft of compulsory redundancies at Hatfield in October following geological issues at the mine, costs and other problems.

Gordon Banham, CEO of Hargreaves, said: “It has been a very challenging period for Hatfield with the combination of the landslip and recent geological problems.

“Hatfield remains a major employer in the Doncaster area with over 400 direct employees.

“Significant efforts and progress have been made by all the stakeholders and employees at Hatfield to improve the efficiency of the operation.”

Hargreaves said the impact of terminating the management contract on current and future financial years is not likely to be material.

In a complex deal Hargreaves sold the mine to ING bank on Monday, which then sold it to the trust yesterday.

Analyst Nick Spoliar, at WH Ireland, said: “The announcement about the ownership change at Hatfield Colliery and the termination of the mine management contract as part of that process draws a line for its involvement with this situation.

“Hargreaves will continue to receive coal as part of the ongoing off-take agreement, but the substantive involvement is ended.

“With good momentum on the surface mining assets front, and strong energy commodity trading in the UK, we remain ‘buyers’ with a 1000p price tar- get.”

Analyst Jon Lienard, at N+1 Singer, said: “After a difficult period for Hatfield involving a landslip and some geological problems, this is a positive outcome which will allow the mine to continue to operate but without Hargreaves as manager.

“We see no impact on our forecasts and this continues the group’s focus towards surface mining and away from deep mining.”

Earlier this year, Hargreaves closed Maltby Colliery, near Rotherham, after more than 100 years of mining.

Hargreaves announced last year that the colliery was no longer economical and would be mothballed with the loss of more than 500 jobs.

Its closure leaves Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire and Hatfield as the region’s last remaining deep mines. Hargreaves made hefty losses from the closure of Maltby.

The costs of mothballing, redundancies and asset write-offs were estimated at £65m.