AROUND half the mineworkers at Nottinghamshire's Clipstone Colliery will be taking up other jobs in the coal industry after their mine ceases production tonight (Thurs).

Groups of men from the current 149-strong workforce will be transferring to other collieries, including Harworth, Welbeck and Thoresby, while operators UK COAL have formed a 24-strong team for the installation and recovery of mining equipment at units requiring those services at present provided by contractors.

Other employees have indicated they do not wish to remain in the coal industry, have secured jobs elsewhere, or are being helped by various agencies to find alternative employment.

Says UK COAL Chief Executive Gordon McPhie: "It's important to acknowledge the contribution mining operations at Clipstone have made to the local economy and in helping meet the nation's energy needs over eight decades. Our employees there have maintained the highest standards to the very end, and we are delighted that so many of them remain in the industry where their undoubted skills and expertise can be put to good use."

With a history dating back to 1914, Clipstone was rescued from closure by UK COAL in 1993. One of 31 mines named for closure by British Coal, it was the first to resume production under under lease and licence arrangements a year ahead of the privatisation of the then State-owned coal industry.

Clipstone resumed production in 1994 with an anticipated life span of six to seven years. In the nine years since, the colliery has produced nearly four million tonnes of coal, and while other reserves remain available, their quality, high sulphur content and cost of accessing them make them unviable.

A small amount of equipment - including a coal cutting face shearer - will be recovered by 30 men from the underground workings at Clipstone over the course of the next week, and a further 24 men will be retained for up to six weeks to wash and prepare recent output from the mine for sale to power stations in the region.

Once underground activities have ceased, UK COAL's operating license and lease will revert to The Coal Authority, the Mansfield-based organisation responsible for licensing mining operations in the UK. Attempts by The Coal Authority to find a successor operator for the mine have proved unsuccessful, and it is likely arrangements will be

made for the Clipstone shafts to be filled in later this year.

The last production shift today was marked by a symbolic tub of coal filled with some of the last coal to be mined at Clipstone - the smallest of the 12 deep mines operated by Harworth-based UK COAL.

Commented colliery manager Kevin Bancroft: "My past four years here as manager have been a source of great satisfaction, working with a professional and dedicated group of men who have shown great determination to successfully mine a coal seam typically just a metre thick - one of the thinnest seams being worked in the English coalfields today. That that has been achieved with arguably the finest safety record in the whole of the UK, speaks volumes for the quality of the Clipstone men."