§ Mr. Lyellasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he is satisfied that facilities for the mining and production of anthracite are satisfactory; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John MooreThe NCB tells me that it is doing all that it can to increase production of anthracite and production 135W has risen from 2.4 million tonnes in 1976 to 3.0 million tonnes in 1979. However, in recent years it has experienced difficulty in obtaining approval to work new opencast sites to replace those being exhausted. It has also had geological problems at some of its deep mines, but a new drift mine at Betws, South Wales, is now producing about 500,000 tonnes of anthracite a year, of which at least half is suitable for the domestic market.