Miners' leaders will today lobby the Government to halt the closure of the country's biggest pit complex after a new report raised hopes of making huge savings.
Officials from the National Union of Mineworkers will meet Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt to present the findings of the research it commissioned in an attempt to save the Selby complex in Yorkshire.
Owners UK Coal plan to close Selby early next year with the loss of 2,000 jobs because of losses of more than £90m in the past three years.
The union said it commissioned the research to contest findings of reports by the company and the DTI, which found deteriorating geological conditions and grim financial prospects.
A spokesman for UK Coal said there was absolutely nothing new in the report and that it had merely confirmed that Selby required huge subsidies to stay open.
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