The coal miner says it is in serious talks to raise "at least 㾶million", and is working with the government and private investors.

Spokesman Andrew Mackintosh told the BBC that the firm was very confident of being able to get the cash and find a long-term investor in the business.

The company owns eight pits across the UK that employ 2000 people.

Its two working deep mines are in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.

It also has surface mines in Northumberland, County Durham, Derbyshire, Shropshire and Leicestershire, with another six proposed across the country.

Mackintosh attributed the firm's latest financial woes to the global market and its falling coal prices, along with a fire that closed its Daw Mill Colliery in Warwickshire.

As a result of the fire, the company announced it had gone into administration.