Major interest has been shown in new mining jobs in Whitehaven, with more than 1,600 people putting their name forward.

A huge milestone will be reached this month as the firm behind the scheme lodges an application for the project, three years after plans were first unveiled.

And bosses have pledged that at least 80 per cent of the 518 jobs will go to locals.

West Cumbria Mining (WCM) wants to extract coking coal off the coast of St Bees, with a processing plant on the former Marchon site at Kells. If plans are given the green light, work is scheduled to start next year, with mining operations returning to the town as early as 2019.

Helen Davies, the company’s communications manager, said they are currently reviewing job applications and determining what further training might be needed. She added that the company also wants to start an apprenticeship scheme, which would see 50 roles made available in many aspects of the business.

The metallurgical (coking) coal – totalling more than two million tonnes a year – will be extracted from under the sea off the coast of St Bees and transported to the surface using an underground conveyor belt. It would then be treated at a dome-covered processing plant using around a third of the former Marchon site, before being trans

ferred to a train loading facility on a siding built by WCM.

The final phase of exploration will begin this month, with the drilling of five offshore boreholes and a team of geologists working from a barge, off St Bees Head.

Open days will take place during the planning application’s public consultation period.

The company’s chief executive Mark Kirkbride said: “I have always promised that WCM would engage in an open and honest manner.

“Keeping the local people up to date with our plans and work programmes is, in my opinion, crucial so that everyone can share their views with us and shape the project to be as good as it can be in terms of a modern, state-of-the-art mine and being a good neighbour.”