Miners' leaders have made a fresh appeal to halt the closure of the Selby pit complex after a new report raised hopes the mines could be saved.

Officials from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will meet Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt on Wednesday to present the findings of research it has commissioned.

UK Coal plans to close Selby early next year with the loss of up to 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 from the company which found deteriorating geological conditions.

There is a market for every cobble of coal produced at Selby Ian Lavery NUM president

The new report, by economic consultants NERA, says there are good reserves of coal at the pits that make up the Selby complex and adds that savings can be made.

A new company taking over the mines and making changes to contracts, could make savings of �25m which would reduce the need for operating subsidies, says the report.

NUM president Ian Lavery said: "There is a market for every cobble of coal produced at Selby.

"Huge savings can be made which would significantly bridge the gap between profit and loss, and this report shows that Selby could have a long and productive future."

Riccall mine is one of the collieries to shut

Mr Lavery said a government subsidy of �10m would be needed to keep Selby open.

But he described this as "absolute peanuts" compared with the cost of closure.

A spokesman for UK Coal said there was nothing new in the report

He said it merely confirmed that Selby required huge subsidies to stay open.