Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the proportion of coal from the proposed coal mine in Cumbria which will be (a) burned for energy, (b) exported, and (c) used in domestic steel production.
In their planning application to Cumbria County Council (https://planning.cumbria.gov.uk/Planning/Display/4/17/9007), West Cumbria Mining have stated that at full annual production the Whitehaven Mine will produce and sell 2.78 mega tonnes per annum of premium metallurgical coal for the use in steel making. Of this, 360,000 tonnes per annum is destined for use in the UK steel industry and the remaining 2.42 mega tonnes per annum is destined for European steel makers.