STILLINGFLEET Mine will close on Friday, bringing to an end 16 years of coal production.

It is the fourth pit in the Selby complex to shut - and leaves Riccall as the last remaining mine.

The last coal to be cut at Stillingfleet will be brought to the surface at midday on Friday.

Work will then start on salvaging millions of pounds of hi-tech equipment left half-a-mile below the surface.

Riccall Mine is expected to close in September, bringing to an end 21 years of coal production in the Selby field.

Stillingfleet, just outside the village of Escrick, was one of the UK's flagship collieries.

It once employed more than 600 men and was one of the first pits in the country to mine a million tonnes of "black gold".

In 1994, it played a major part in the Selby complex producing over 12 million tonnes of coal, making a profit of more than £100 million.

But the black gold days were not to last. Poor geology caused by major faults in the Barnsley coal seam led to the closure of Whitemoor Mine in 1996 and North Selby Mine the following year.

In 1999 - only five years after producing a world record 12 million tonnes of coal - the complex dug out just five million tonnes and was starting to haemorrhage money.

Wistow Mine closed earlier this year and now it is Stillingfleet's turn to bite the dust.

There are now only 180 miners left at the pit.

Roy Vann, National Union of Mineworkers' branch secretary at Stillingfleet, said: "There are still millions of tons of coal left here but, sadly, no one is prepared to invest in home-grown fuel.

"The shareholders call all the shots now and they know it's cheaper to import coal from Indonesia."

Mr Vann, 49, said a decision taken in 1999 not to mine under Naburn because of possible flooding problems was a "body blow" for Stillingfleet.

Updated: 10:36 Wednesday, July 28, 2004