Industrial, property, and land services conglomerate Hargreaves Services announced it’s closing all its UK-based mining operations in July because its future in power generation is limited, the company said in a June 2 investor presentation.
The UK-based company runs a string of coal sites across Scotland and supplies British power plants and steelworks with the material through the Immingham and Newport ports.
Britain is estimated to have produced 2.6mn mt of bituminous and anthracitic coal in 2018, almost entirely from opencast and surface mines, while it imported 10.1mn mt, mainly from Russia and the US.
Imports supplied virtually the entire coking coal market, as the UK no longer produces significant quantities of coal suitable for use in coke ovens. Nevertheless, UK steelmakers typically use locally produced coal for pulverised coal injection in their blast furnaces.
In acknowledging coal’s limited future, Hargreaves stated it will instead develop Hargreaves Land, its property development business.