Open-pit coal mining in the United Kingdom

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Open-pit coal mining in the United Kingdom is in decline, and is planned to end in November 2023.^[1] Output has fallen every year since 2010. In 2010, the United Kingdom was forecast to produce about ten million tonnes (9,800,000 long tons; 11,000,000 short tons) of coal a year^[2] from open-pit mines. Most came from Scotland,^[3] with the largest operator there being the Scottish Coal subsidiary of Scottish Resources Group.^[4] Actual production in 2010 was over 13 million tonnes but this has declined to less than 8 million tonnes in 2014.

Until 2014, statistics on open-pit coal mining were compiled by the British Geological Survey from information provided by local planning authorities.^[5] Open-pit coal mines usually last four or five years at extraction rates of up to a quarter-million tons a year. ^{[citation needed]}