UK Coal

UK Coal Production Ltd

Type	Private
Industry	Coal mining, Renewable energy, & Real estate
Founded	1974
Headquarters	Harworth, Nottinghamshire, England
Key people	Kevin McCullough (Chief Executive)
Revenue	£316.0 million (2009)
Operating income	£82.7 million (2007)
Net income	£94.0 million (2007)
Number of employees	2,000 (2013)
Website	www.ukcoal.com

UK Coal Production Ltd, formerly UK Coal plc, was the largest coal mining business in the United Kingdom. The company was based in Harworth, in Nottinghamshire. The company was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The successor company that contains the former property division, Harworth Group is still listed on the .

The predecessor company of UK Coal was founded by Richard J. Budge in 1974 as RJB Mining. In 1994, following the privatisation of the UK mining industry, it grew fivefold with the acquisition of British Coal's core activities. It changed its name to UK Coal in 2001 after the retirement of its founder, having acquired UK Coal plc.

In 2012, UK Coal were fined £200,000 after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety laws after a death of a miner. The miner died after equipment fell on him at the Kellingley Colliery. This marks the third death at the site in four years.

On 12 December 2012 UK Coal plc completed a complex financial restructuring of the company to secure its future and changed its name to Coalfield Resources plc. The company's operations had been restructured into two separate businesses: the mining division (under UK Coal Mine Holdings Limited) and the property division (under Harworth Estates Property Group Limited).

Control of the mining division had passed to an employee benefit trust ("EBT"), which initially held shares representing 67& of the voting and 10% of the economic rights in UK Coal Mine Holdings for the benefit of current and future employees of the mining division. Coalfield Resources initially retained the remainder of UK Coal Mine Holdings's economic and voting rights, but the shareholdings rank behind pension fund debt. On 9 July 2013, following a devastating fire, their largest mine, Daw Mill, was forced into closure. As a direct, result both UK Coal Mine Holdings Ltd (UKCMHL) and UK Coal Operations Ltd (UKCOL) were put into administration. The remaining mining operations were again restructured, resulting in the formation of a new business "UK Coal Production Ltd".

The successor of Coalfield Resources, Harworth Group had no equity interest in the mining business by the time the last two mines were closed in 2015. Harworth Group initially (in 2012) owned 24.9% of Harworth Estates Property Group, with 75.1% having passed to EBT in return for a £30 million cash injection and their financial support to the mines. However, in November 2014 Coalfield Resources announced that it had agreed terms with the Pension Protection Fund to buy back the 75.1% of Harworth Estates Property Group it did not already own and to change the name of the company to Harworth Group plc. This transaction completed on 24 March 2015.