The firm says miners from Tower could get jobs there

Representatives of KBI visited the area on Tuesday to investigate potential sites.

But a land deal with the south Wales' coalfield's last coal mine - Tower at Hirwaun - has fallen through.

A KBI spokesman said he still hoped the plant, which would turn waste into gas, could be built nearby and provide jobs for when the colliery closed.

Tower, which employs around 375 miners, is expected to be exhausted within the next year or so.

KBI's Peter Wray said they were looking at nearby Hirwaun Industrial Estate as a possible location for the gas project, which would also be a training facility attracting visitors from across the world.

Alternative sites

The plant - which the company says is the first of its kind anywhere - would turn all kinds of waste into gas, which could be converted to provide power for 20,000 homes,

Although negotiations with the colliery have stalled, the company said it is hopeful the plant will be up and running by the end of the year.

"We are looking at alternative sites which are large enough for us and which will allow us the infrastructure and access in the same area which will allow us to continue the project which will give 62 jobs to the local area, " Mr Wray said.

KBI's Peter Wray said visitors worldwide would come to the plant

"{It will} produce enough electricity for 20,000 homes. We want to use it also as our main training and service centre worldwide mainly because English is the business language and we will be having people come from all over the world to visit the site."

Burning waste for energy is controversial and plants have often provoked strong local opposition.

But KBI claims its plant will offer a different form of waste disposal, heating the material at much higher temperatures than normal incineration and turning it into gas.

Tower Colliery closed in 1994 but was bought and re-opened by its own miners the following year.

It remained profitable, but last autumn it was announced coal seams being worked by Tower's 375-strong workforce will be exhausted in two to three years.

At the time Tower chairman Tyrone O'Sullivan said it was possible that mining in south Wales could continue elsewhere.

Phil White, commercial director of Tower Colliery, said he welcomed any attempt to create employment in Hirwaun but doubted the project would come in time for Tower's miners when the pit closes in a year.