By Aileen Robertson

THE LEADER of the Scottish Mineworkers’ Consortium is campaigning for Longannet Colliery to be reopened.

Jim Parker, who was a manager at Longannet when it opened in the 1960s and went on to become a consultant engineer before he retired, said the mine could be up and running again in three years, creating hundreds of jobs.

However, concerns have been raised about health and safety issues that would arise if the mine is reinstated.

Around 450 workers were made redundant when Longannet, Scotland’s last deep mine, closed after a flood in 2002.

A Scottish Coal report obtained by The Courier after the closure detailed “horrendous” geological problems at the Kincardine mine.

At the time, some £40 million of taxpayers’ money had been ploughed into the site.

The report said any further investment would be wasted because the colliery had become “insupportable.”

However, Mr Parker now hopes to have the support of the Scottish Government in campaigning for Longannet to be reopened.

Last year, First Minister Alex Salmond spoke out in support of coal mining and said it will have a part to play in addressing future energy needs, with the use of technology such as carbon capture.

Mr Parker said the local SNP councillor, Bill Walker, has backed the consortium’s proposal.

He said he is waiting for Jim Mather, the Scottish minister for energy, enterprise and tourism, to set a date to meet him.

He estimated that reopening Longannet would cost about £30 million—“bargain basement” compared to what it would cost to set up a mine on a new site.

“There is nothing outrageous in suggesting that Longannet could be reopened in three years,” said Mr Parker.

“It would take about two years to get the water out of the mine and refurbish the equipment.

“And Fife is still awash with miners. There are also people in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and even a few blokes in Wales that would be interested in coming up here to work.

“It would create 450 jobs and produce about a million tonnes of coal a year, and there are around 40m tonnes of coal at Longannet.

“Longannet could produce enough coal to produce over 20% of Scotland’s base electricity requirement and it’s right beside a power station.”

Mr Parker claimed that concerns about safety and the ground having too many geological problems are ill-informed.

“People come up with that rubbish and it gets in the way of creating hundreds of jobs.

“At Longannet there are the same conditions you would find in any coalfield.

“It’s a sin that this source of energy and employment is not being taken seriously.”

Plans have been announced for new deep mines in Dumfriesshire, and at Port Talbot in Wales, where one disused mine has already been reopened and four more could follow.

Mr Parker said the Longannet site is ideal and coalfields at Airth, directly across the Forth from Kincardine, could also be exploited.

“Using the modern technology available, it would be possible to access the huge coalfield at the other side of the Forth.

“But if we can’t get the funding for it, it won’t happen.”

Independent Kincardine councillor Willie Ferguson, who has spoken to ex-Longannet miners about the possibility of the mine reopening, said many oppose it.

He said, “It would be impossible to reopen the colliery because of the timespan since it was closed.

“There would be a structural damage, the hydraulic equipment would be rusty and the roofs would need replaced.

“It would be a costly and dangerous job.

“It would be nice to have a deep mine in Scotland again, but rather than try to open up an old one, it would be better to look at a new mine to address the coal demand in Scotland.”

He added, “A lot of former miners have moved on to other jobs. I’m not sure if they would want to go back to working in a mine or not.

“However there are a few who I’m sure would be attracted back to the mine. Whether we can get youngsters to go underground, I’m not sure.”