New concern that firm wants to duck out of remediating mine site

Martin Shipton

A mining company has again been accused of seeking to renege on its responsibility to properly remediate a site it has left with multiple environmental concerns.

In 2024 the Senedd’s Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee published a report that described the “epic mismanagement” of the Ffos-y-Fran mine at Merthyr Tydfil, saying nothing similar must be allowed to happen in any community in Wales.

The licence to extract coal from Ffos-y-Fran expired in September 2022 but local residents reported that the mine was still operating – illegally – many months after this before the site was closed in November 2023.

When it first opened, the company running the mine, Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, pledged to fully restore the site after it finished operations.

The committee heard evidence that since 2017, the company has paid out nearly £50m in dividends and royalties out of the business.

But with current restoration costs estimated at between £50m to £120m, and despite the original restoration promises, the company has since claimed that it was unable to afford this.

There are therefore concerns that the company will seek to evade its financial responsibilities and the cost of restoring the land will fall on the public sector.

Earlier this year Nation.Cymru revealed how David Lewis, the sole director of Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, had a conviction for defrauding a bank of £88,000 to fund his gambling addiction and how recently he had assaulted an elderly solicitor outside his Newport office.

The company has applied for planning permission to undertake a scaled-down remediation of the Ffos-y-Fran site.

It has now submitted a document that responds to major technical concerns raised by expert engineers working for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

Geotechnical issues

The recently lodged report states: “There have been several outstanding matters raised in relation to the various geotechnical issues relating to the proposed restoration strategy. When operational, the site was operated in accordance with the Quarries Regulations 1999 and was subject to regular site inspections regulated by the Coal Authority and the Health and Safety Executive.

“It appears that many of the concerns raised surrounding geotechnical issues only came to light following the cessation of mining and coal extraction at the end of November 2023 and when operations came to an end.

“[Other consultants] have responded to many of these outstanding matters in a letter to Merthyr council dated July 8 2025. However, there remain concerns raised by WSP, consultant engineers to Merthyr council that still need resolving.

“The summary response from WSP reads as follows: ‘The submission does not adequately consider the stability of the proposed slopes and rockfaces for the proposed restoration scheme. There is insufficient evidence that a rigorous assessment of the soil parameters and groundwater regime has been undertaken.

“It is considered that based on the scheme proposals contained within documents submitted to support the planning application there will remain a significant risk of slope instability in the medium to long term.”

Consultants

The consultants working on behalf of the mining company state: “The work to address these concerns is currently in progress and involves the review of a large amount of information and records, both prior to and from the operational period that spans over 17 years.”

Daniel Therkelsen of the Coal Action Network, an organisation that campaigns for the proper restoration of land damaged by the coal industry, said: “Representing the mining company’s attempt to renegade on the agreed restoration plan, [its] consultants has doubled down on their attempt to brow-beat the council into permitting the cut-price version.

“The consultants perversely hold up the restoration failures at four other former opencast coal mine sites in South Wales as examples of what they are aspiring to deliver at Ffos-y-fran in this application.

“One of these examples, in Margam, was described by a local resident as ‘It’s like the moon, like Mars… All we’re asking for is to restore it to some sort of resemblance of what it was prior.’

“And that’s all local residents are asking for at Ffos-y-fran, even though they were promised so much more. Yet, even this is being fought by the mining company that made record-breaking profits whilst mining 640,000 tonnes of coal illegally with impunity, [the consultancy] is dragging its name through the mud for its part in trying to deny Merthyr Tydfil its access to safe and healthy green space.

“Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd’s central claim for years has been that it is unable to fund the agreed standard of restoration, being the primary reason it needs to be downgraded. However, that claim is conspicuously absent now that the council demanded evidence. This once again suggests the company is lying to officials in its attempt to siphon off the £91.2m earmarked for restoration.”