Daw Mill Colliery

Daw Mill colliery

Entrance to Daw Mill colliery, September 2006
Location
Location	Arley, Warwickshire
Country	United Kingdom
Production
Products	Coal from the Warwickshire Coalfield
History
Opened	1956 (1956)
Active	1956–2013
Closed	2013
Owner
Company	UK Coal

Daw Mill was a coal mine located near the village of Arley, near Nuneaton, in the English county of Warwickshire. The mine was Britain's biggest coal producer. On 7 March 2013 the owner, UK Coal, announced the mine would be closed following a major fire. It was the last remaining colliery in the West Midlands.

Daw Mill mined a five-metre thick section of the Warwickshire Coalfield (known as the Warwickshire Thick) in the north of the county. It was owned and operated by UK Coal and in 2008 employed 680 people.

The two shafts that served Daw Mill were first sunk between 1956 and 1959, and 1969 and 1971 respectively. The mine was a natural extension of the former collieries Kingsbury Colliery and Dexter Colliery, both of which have also closed. In 1983 an inclined tunnel linking underground workings with the surface was completed. This drift mining enabled Daw Mill to increase its production capacity as it removed the often time-consuming process of winding coal up the shafts.

Daw Mill was the last surviving mine in a county that once had 20 operating collieries. In 2008 it excavated 3.25 million tons of coal, beating a 13-year-old record for annual output at a British coal mine set at Selby in North Yorkshire.

The colliery was situated on the Birmingham to Nuneaton Line, just east of the former Shustoke railway station. Trains were operated by GB Railfreight.

Three men were killed at Daw Mill in mining accidents in 2006 and 2007. In 2011 UK Coal was fined £1.2 million for safety breaches.

On 22 February 2013, a major fire broke out 500 metres (1,600 ft) underground, described as the worst underground blaze in Britain for 30 years. UK Coal and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that 92 workers were safely extracted. As of 7 March 2013 the fire had still not been fully extinguished. It was initially estimated that remedial work to the colliery could take between three and six months, making a return to production subject to a further review, resulting in the possible immediate closure of the mine.