RJB Mining the private coal producer which took over many of the National Coal Board mines in the mid-nineties is looking to recruit upto 150 staff at its collieries at Ellington in Northumberland and Clipstone in Nottinghamshire. The two collieries had been threatened with closure last year.
RJB has a total of 13 coal producing sites in the UK, and has said that the new jobs result from the need to maintain equipment and to develop new coal-faces from new reserves.
The company will be looking for electricians, fitters and underground development workers, and has also announced that they intend to take on around 100 school-leavers for apprenticeships in electrical and mechanical engineering and in mining-craft.
A spokesman for RJB told HR Zone:
"A year ago 600 livlihoods were threatened, some of these at best faced redeployment, but we could not have hoped for much better changes in the last six months. There has been a remarkable change in the energy market; gas prices have virtually doubled, oil prices have virtually trebled and the price of coal has lifted from a long time low. In addition we have been able to secure transitonal relief through the government. The value of the pound against the dollar has also helped, and it all means that there is a little more optimism in the coal market enabling us to not only develop the 600 jobs at these two mines but now look at recruiting for the future."
