Maltby Colliery, one of the last deep coal mines in the UK, was driven to abandon coal production earlier in 2011 amidst safety fears.
The colliery employs about 500 workers and high levels of gas, oil and water were identified at the site with Hargreaves Services undertaking a full investigation.
According to a company spokesperson, "We anticipate that the abandonment of the T125 panel would lead to the mothballing or even closure of the mine as it would probably be uneconomic to switch production to a later panel due to the long face gap entailed."
The mine has been operating for the past 100 year and produces over one million tonnes of coal annually.
Majority of the coal from Maltby Colliery is supplied to the European coal-fired power station Drax in Yorkshire.
