British Coal

British Coal Corporation

Predecessor	National Coal Board
Successor	Coal Authority
Formation	5 March 1987; 37 years ago (1987-03-05)
Dissolved	27 March 2004; 20 years ago (2004-03-27)
Legal status	Statutory corporation
Headquarters	Hobart House, Grosvenor Place, London SW1X 7AE
Products	Coal
Owner	UK Government
Chairman	Sir Robert Haslam (1987–1990) Neil Clarke (1991–June 1997) Philip Hutchinson (June 1997–December 1997) Mike Atkinson (1998–2000) Peter Mason (2000–2004)

The British Coal Corporation was a nationalised corporation responsible for the mining of coal in the United Kingdom from 1987 until it was effectively dissolved in 1997. The corporation was created by renaming its predecessor, the National Coal Board (NCB).

Coal Industry Act 1987
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to change the name of the National Coal Board to the British Coal Corporation; to make new provision with respect to grants by the Secretary of State to the Corporation; to make provision for securing further participation by organisations representing employees in the coal industry in the management of trusts and other bodies connected with that industry and in the management of superannuation schemes for such employees; and for other purposes connected therewith.
Citation	1987 c. 3
Dates
Royal assent	5 March 1987
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Coal Industry Act 1987 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Coal Industry Act 1987 (c. 3) changed the name of the National Coal Board (NCB) to the British Coal Corporation. With the passing of the Coal Industry Act 1994, the 16th and last Coal Industry Act, the industry-wide administrative functions of British Coal were transferred to the new Coal Authority from 31 October 1994.^[1][2]

All economic assets were privatised. The English mining operations were merged with RJB Mining to form UK Coal, a monopoly. British Coal continued as a separate organisation until 31 December 1997, after which it was run as a residual legal entity by staff within the Coal Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry,^[3][4] eventually being dissolved on 27 March 2004.^[5][6]

• Coal mining in the United Kingdom
• History of coal mining in the United Kingdom
• National Coal Board
• Open-pit coal mining in the United Kingdom

• Anderson, D. Coal: a pictorial history of the British coal industry (1982), 104pp; online, includes hundreds of photographs and a detailed chronology

• Ashworth, William; Pegg, Mark (1986). History of the British Coal Industry: Volume 5: 1946-1982: The Nationalized Industry. Oxford University Press. online
• Brady, Robert A. (1950). Crisis in Britain. Plans and Achievements of the Labour Government. University of California Press. pp. 77–131.

• Catalogue of the British Coal operational research archives ^{[permanent dead link]} — at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.