West Cumbria Mining Ltd secured approval to develop its Woodhouse Colliery metallurgical coal underground project.

The company said March 19 that it plans to produce about 2.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal per year to supply U.K. and European steelmaking coal plants.

West Cumbria will work with the Cumbria County Council to satisfy the planning conditions before moving to the preconstruction and construction phases.

Site work is expected to start before year-end, and coal production is expected to start about 24 months after construction starts.