JOBS at three local opencast sites could be axed after it was announced they will stop producing coal.

Durham-based opencast operator Hargreaves have revealed plans to halt production at six of their seven Scottish sites, with House of Water near New Cumnock selected as the one site to continue production.

The BBC reported the news of the decision to stop production at six of the sites due to a fall in coal and gas prices this week

But the Chronicle can reveal that it is the House of Water site which has been earmarked as the only Hargreaves-owned opencast in Scotland to continue processing coal beyond this summer.

A Hargreaves spokesperson said: "We have invested significantly in a single location for coal processing and preparation at Killoch, Ayrshire. Each associated surface mine will feed coal into Killoch until economic reserves at each are exhausted. It is likely that beyond summer 2016 this will mean that only House of Water will remain as an operational coal site with all other sites moved into their restoration phase.

"Restoration will be completed in line with our planning conditions at each location and compliance will be overseen by the local authority."

That means that production at the Duncanziemere site near Logan, Netherton near Skares and Glenmuckloch near Kirkconnel will halt and all three will be moved in to their restoration phase along with Broken Cross in South Lanarkshire and Muir Dean and St Ninians in Fife.

The Chronicle understands that there is likely to be job losses and a Hargreaves spokesperson said: “Hargreaves will do everything it can to minimise the impact on employees through redeployment and exploring other options within the group.”

There are now concerns over whether Hargreaves can now stick to its current deadline for extraction at House of Water.

Local opencast activist, Jerry Mulders said: "House of Water is now some four months behind schedule and at the current extraction rate will finish coaling in 2031.

"It's hoped that with the scaling down of operations elsewhere, all the workers will be deployed to the single operational site so it will be restored by the promised 2020. According to East Ayrshire Council figures coaling will cease in approximately 38 months, and with 1,568,000 tonnes of coal remaining, this site needs to produce 41,000 tonnes a month in order to comply with the permission granted by the elected members.

"In January the site was producing some 8000 plus tonnes a month, so production needs to be ramped up fivefold. In January there were two diggers at work, so until there are 10 working, there seems to be little hope that they will keep to the promised schedule. As the restoration plan for this complex is calculated on the profit of the extracted coal, I sincerely hope that Hargreaves will be able to afford to finish it on time and to the agreed standard.

"I hope that they will indeed keep their promises, as even, second class restoration is a step in the right direction. Restoration jobs are vital for the area so that workers have some time to retrain and find new employment with new skills for the future.

"It's now even more important that the Scottish Government and East Ayrshire Council double their efforts to find solutions for all the remaining sites and any parts that Hargreaves can’t afford to repair.

"It seemed inevitable that Hargreaves would have to scale down the production of coal as the market has continued to shrink permanently for environmental and economic reasons."