UK Coal is to extend the life of one of its most productive mines after the site secured a new four-year contract with power generator EDF Energy.

The UK's largest coal producer says it had secured a contract for the final reserves due to be mined at a 95-year-old colliery. UK Coal's Welbeck mine at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, has secured a new deal to supply coal to power generator EDF Energy over the next two years.

--1700s - The Industrial Rev-olution begins and starts the shift away from small-scale surface mining to large-scale deep shaft mining. Coal now becomes the main source of primary energy in industry and transportation.

By Grant Smith U.K. Coal named its property director, Jon Lloyd, to succeed Gerry Spindler as chief executive of the company, the biggest coal producer in Britain. The appointment underscores U.K.

UK COAL, the rump of the old British Coal, will slump into a loss again this year after production was hit by fatal accidents and by geological issues at three of its mines.