A Million to None: The U.K.’s Last Coal Miners Stop Work Today
So long, and thanks for all the fuel.
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A hundred years ago more than a million men made their living digging coal from deep beneath U.K. soil. As of today there will be none.
Britain’s last underground coal mine closes on Friday, calling time on an industry that helped propel the U.K. to superpower status in the 19th century. While the underground coal mining industry has been defying a final death since Margaret Thatcher’s assault in the 1980s, a collapse in coal prices and the accelerating fight against climate change has pushed them over the edge.