Rising insurance premiums force the closure of Betws mine

Betws Colliery in Ammanford, west Wales, is shutting down after managers at the site said rising insurance costs meant the business was no longer profitable.

Miners are preparing to march around the site at 1000 BST to mark the end of coal production there after more than 25 years.

The closure was announced last week, just one day after a deputation of miners visited Westminster to appeal for help.

But the plea was rejected because of changes to state aid rules which prevented the government stepping in.

Accompanying the miners, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP Adam Price said as a result of this, closure was inevitable.

About 100 jobs will be lost at the Amman Valley colliery

Employees had already been given redundancy notices last month.

Managers said they could no longer afford to pay insurance premiums after a dramatic rise.

Annual premiums have rocketed from �80,000 in 2000 to an expected �700,000 this year, undermining efforts to stay viable.

Drilling work at Betws Colliery started in 1974, with the first anthracite coal being brought to the surface in 1977.

At the peak of production, up to 500 people worked at the mine.

The mine shut once before in 1993, but re-opened following a management buy-out, and went on to confound expectations by becoming a success story.

Only a skeleton staff - mostly consisting of administration workers - is still at the site as it prepares to close down.

The company hopes to resurrect itself later as a smaller scale operation, serving niche markets.