Outlook becomes less black as reprieved pit is reopened by private sector

Miners clocked on again yesterday at Clipstone colliery, Nottinghamshire, which was closed by British Coal in April 1993 and has been reopened by RJB Mining under an eight-year lease-and-licence deal. Clipstone is the first of 28 pits offered to the private sector by British Coal to be reopened. RJB will invest pounds 3m at the mine, where it hopes to employ 250 by August.

Photograph: John Giles/PA

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