The pit at Selby is due to close next March

Over �55m was spent on closure and redundancy costs at the Prince of Wales Colliery at Pontefract, West Yorkshire, and at Selby in North Yorkshire.

The Selby complex, which is due to close in March, continued to incur losses for UK Coal during the first half of this financial year.

But in a trading statement the company has said its finances are set to improve with sales in the first half of the year up by 3%.

Government application

It said it had benefited from cost-cutting at its deep mines and progress in realising property interests.

The company also hopes an agreement with mineworkers to introduce new flexible working arrangements at Maltby Colliery, near Rotherham, will help the pit become more competitive.

On Thursday, the company announced it had asked for government aid to help it to access more than 100 million tonnes of coal.

The application to the Department of Trade and Industry could safeguard 4,000 jobs at collieries in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East.

UK Coal, which is based in Harworth, near Doncaster, operates 12 pits and employs about 7,000 people.