The two shafts at the colliery were first sunk between 1912 and 1915 and both are more than 650m deep.

The Top Hard seam was mined from 1915 until 1992, when the operation switched over to the Parkgate seam.

But the current workings were concentrated in the Deep Soft thermal coal seam which was first accessed in 1985 but abandoned ten years later.

UK Coal restarted longwall mining of this seam in 2005 with the last panel completed on May 11 this year.

“In its heyday, Welbeck employed around 1,400 miners and enjoyed an annual output of around 1.5 million tonnes,” UK Coal said.

“In its last six weeks as an operating mine, it has produced 360,000 tonnes of mineral from its last face, 243s, a 300-metre long panel in the Deep Soft seam.”

Around 70 of the 410 employees who worked at Welbeck in recent years stayed to recover about £ 6 million of equipment plus seal off and decommission the mine.

UK coal said 120 of the men transferred to work at mines in the Midlands and in Yorkshire while 60 decided to leave the industry.

“Most of the remaining men will transfer to other mines once equipment, including 207 roof supports destined for neighbouring Thoresby Colliery have been recovered,” the company said last month.

“Coal washing and blending operations will also continue at Welbeck for several months, with the product being transported by rail to nearby power stations for electricity generation.”

UK Coal chief executive Jon Lloyd noted the closure of Welbeck was a sad day for the coal industry and the communities associated with the mine for almost a century.

“Welbeck has a long history of delivering the goods, even in recent years when the mine has been extracting its limited remaining reserves in what are not the easiest of conditions,” UK Coal operations and production director Bill Tinsley said.

“Everyone has done a great job and should be delighted at what they have achieved.”

Just last week the English underground coal producer announced that Hargreaves Services did not want to proceed with a merger proposal with UK Coal.

The two companies know each other well, with UK Coal offloading its 50% stake in coal marketer Coal4Energy to Hargreaves for £ 9 million in January 2009.

UK Coal expects to hit production of 7.6 million tonnes of raw coal in 2010 and said the new seams at the Kellingley and Thoresby mines were in full production while the Daw Mill operation completed a ramp up on its new panel.

The company also holds a property line of business and plans to sell a significant proportion of its agricultural estate in the future, plus find a partner to develop some of its brownfield coal acreage.