THE last pieces of coal to be mined at Wistow Mine, near Selby, were brought to the surface today to mark the end of an era at what was once a record-breaking pit.
As the Evening Press reported on Tuesday, production has now ceased at Wistow after the last coalface, code-named H81s, suffered severe geological conditions.
Management decided it was unsafe for miners to continue working as the coalface was hit by falls of rock and debris from the roof, and flooding.
H81s is the last of 130 coalfaces to be worked at Wistow since it started production in 1983.
It was the first Selby mine to produce coal and went on to set several new British and European output records.
Its finest hour came in September 1995 when it set a new European output record of 200,000 tonnes in a week.
It once employed more than 700 miners but is now down to a skeleton workforce of just over 100.
Some of those left plan to transfer to Kellingley Colliery, at Knottingley, near Pontefract, while others plan to leave the industry.
Riccall, Stillingfleet and Gascoigne Wood mines will close in July, marking the demise of a coalfield that once made profits of more than £100 million a year.
UK Coal, owners of the Selby pit complex, said they had no choice, but to close the coalfield after it lost more than £120 million in the last four years.
Updated: 14:03 Thursday, May 13, 2004
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