Wales

Wales to celebrate Christmas by re-opening 200-year old coal mine

Wales Online reports mining at the historic Tower Colliery in Wales could begin again as soon as Christmas after a £30m scheme to regenerate the site was given the green light by councillors of the nearby town of Rhondda Cynon Taf earlier in the week.

Tower Colliery was the oldest continuously worked pit coal mine in the United Kingdom at the time of its closure by British Coal in 1994 with a history dating back to at least 1805. It was bought out by the laid off miners and re-opened the next year before finally shutting down in 2008.