Cumbria coalmine is owned by private equity firm with Caymans base

West Cumbria Mining, which set up Whitehaven office during push for new mine, owned by EMR Capital

What is the Cumbrian coalmine and why does it matter?

The first deep coalmine to be dug in the UK in a generation is ultimately owned by an international private equity company, with executives whose mining interests have stretched to Russia, Asia, Africa and across Australia.

West Cumbria Mining positioned itself as a local company with an office in Whitehaven, and promised it would provide jobs for people in the area, during its campaign for permission to extract 2.8m tonnes of coking coal a year from the site.