Banks Mining has blamed government inaction for 24 possible mining job losses with a further 220 jeopardised because no planning decisions have been made on new mines.
Coal has been excavated at Brenkley Lane surface mine near Newcastle and the site restored with landscaping.
However Banks has waited more than 18 months for the Government to decide on the company’s proposed Highthorn surface mine in Northumberland.
Union leaders branded the Government’s inaction as a “cowardly and illogical failure” and for ignoring Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng’s view that it was better to produce coal in the UK than import it from Russia.
Jerry Swain, national officer for construction at Unite The Union, added: “The painful consequences of the Government’s cowardly, illogical failure to act on their own planning inspector’s recommendation that the Highthorn scheme should go ahead are now being played out in these job losses, the responsibility for which lies firmly at their door.
“Boris Johnson’s personal promise to repay the trust of the North East voters who returned him to Downing Street a few months ago has swiftly been shown to be worthless.
“The Government’s baffling inaction on Highthorn even ignores its own minister Kwasi Kwarteng’s comment in the House of Commons that ‘from a coal and carbon emissions reduction point of view, it makes sense to have a locally based coal source rather than shipping it in a very costly way halfway round the world.”
Banks’s managing director Gavin Styles said there was still significant demand for coal and fireclay in the UK.
“Whilst British industry still needs coal it should be mined here in the UK. It’s better for jobs, it’s better for the environment.
“We have continued to do everything we can to make the case for approval and to make the consequences of the Secretary of State’s failure to make a timely decision on Highthorn crystal clear but so far, it’s all been to no avail.”
Mr Styles added that without Government action the company would be forced to carry out further consultations on redundancies.
“We remain proud to have invested consistently in North East England for more than four decades, to have employed thousands of excellent people during that time given contracts to hundreds of local businesses and contributed millions of pounds to community projects across the county.”