Aberpergwm Coal Mine

This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Download full dataset

Report an error

Sub-articles:

Global coal mines Coal mines in China Coal mines in India Coal mines in the United States Coal mines in Australia Coal mines in Russia Coal mines in Indonesia

Related-articles:

Largest coal mines in the world Coal mine impacts from Covid-19 Environmental issues of coal Coal mining Coal reserves Coal terminals

Aberpergwm Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Glynneath, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, United Kingdom.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Aberpergwm Coal Mine	Glynneath, Neath Port Talbot, Wales, United Kingdom	51.740824, -3.644329 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

{"type":"SATELLITE","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":16,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":51.740824,"lon":-3.644329,"icon":"","inlineLabel":"Operating Mine, Proposed Expansion\n"}]}

Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1811	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	0.23	–	Underground	Bord and Pillar	–	494*	184

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
–	–	–	–	Anthracite	Met	Tata Steel Port Talbot steel plant

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Energybuild	Energybuild [100%]	UK

Expansion/Extension

Table 6: Project status

* Added capacity of a coal mine refers to the enhancement in the mine's production capabilities beyond its initial production capacity.

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Project Phase	Added Capacity (Mtpa)*	Start Year
Proposed	Permitted	Expansion	–	0	–

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background

Aberpergwm Coal Mine is an underground coal mine owned and operated by Energybuild in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, United Kingdom.

In January 2022, an expansion to mine an additional 40 million tonnes of coal over the next 20 years was approved, however, environmentalists are currently pursuing legal action against its operation. It is unclear if the mine is currently operating. The site at Aberpergwm has been worked since 1811 as a series of drift mines, but full commercial working didn't begin sometime in the 1860s. In 1996, the mine was reopened by local investors Anthracite Mining Ltd; they were, in turn, bought out by UK-based Energybuild in 2011.

Energybuild was granted a conditional mining license in 2016 to extract up to 40 million tonnes of over the 20 years. According to reports, the company claimed it would mine 7.3 million tonnes over the life of the mine, at a rate of about 350,000 tonnes a year.

Environmental Opposition

In March 2023, the Coal Action Network brought a judicial review against the Welsh Government and UK Coal Authority, asking for the mining license to be revoked because the Welsh government's carbon reduction targets weren't sufficiently considered when granting the license. However, it was ruled that both authorities acted within the law. In it's own defense, a spokesperson from the Welsh government adds that although the government remains committed to the climate crisis, they do not have the powers to make a decision in the case of Aberpergwm as this license pre-dates their powers on coal licensing.

The Coal Action Network appealed the decision in May 2023. As of October 2023, a final response is pending.

• Operator: Energybuild
• Owner: Energybuild
• Location: Neath Port Talbot, Wales County, United Kingdom
• Coordinates: 51.7408, -3.6443 (exact)
• Mine Status: Operating
• Start Year: 1811
• Production Capacity (Mtpa): 0.23
• Total Reserves (Mt):
• Coal Type: Anthracite
• Mine Type: Underground
• Mine Size (Km2):
• Workforce Size:
• Source of Financing:

Expansion Details

• Status: Approved
• Capacity: 2 million tonnes per annum or 0.35 mtpa
• Start Year: TBD
• Employment: 160

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.