PLANS to extend a controversial opencast coalmine have been submitted.

Banks Mining is hoping to expand its surface mining operations on land to the west of its Bradley surface mine near Dipton.

It already 18 months into removing 500,000 tonnes of coal from the land despite a long-running campaign of public opposition.

The firm now has published detailed plans for extracting around 90,000 tonnes more coal for supply to UK industrial customers and 20,000 tonnes of fireclay for use by regional brickmakers.

Banks has reiterated its commitment to completing operational and restoration work there to the same August 2021 deadline.

Gavin Styles, managing director at Banks Mining, said: “The Bradley site has been fully operational for 18 months and we are producing high-quality coal in the safest, most efficient and most responsible way possible which is helping to meet the UK’s continuing need for it for use in a range of essential industries, such as steel, cement and food production.

“While it was great, for example, to see hundreds of British jobs saved by the recent rescue of British Steel, it is impossible to ignore the facts that coal is an indispensable part of the steel-making process, that it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future and that these jobs depend entirely on the ready availability of suitable coal supplies.”

The proposed additional area covers 18.5 hectares of land between the western edge of the current Bradley site, which sits off the A692 between Leadgate and Dipton, and the Jolly Drovers.

It would provide continued employment for the 36 people currently working at Bradley, more than half of whom live within five miles of the site, as well as additional investment in the supply chain.

Mr Styles said: “We mine, transport to our UK customers and restore our surface mines in North-East England with significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than are released from just the transportation alone of coal from places like Russia, and we can do so safely while creating well-paid jobs.”