U.K. Coal, the largest coal producer in the country, said it's on the verge of closing two of its last three deep mines in Britain because of economic woes.

U.K. Coal spokesman Andrew Mackintosh said the company needs about $16.6 million in new investments or it will be forced to close its Kellingley and Thoresby coal mines.

"Thoresby and Kellingley would have at least 18 months, rather than an immediate closure if we don't get the funding," he told the BBC Wednesday.

The company provides about 8 percent of all the coal consumed in the United Kingdom. It said the value of the British pound against the U.S. dollar means it's lost out to cheaper coal imported from the United States, where the glut of shale natural gas has forced coal companies there to look overseas for new markets.

In February, the British Department of Energy and Climate Change said that, despite an increase in low-carbon energy sources, the British economy still relies on coal.

DECC said coal provided an average 30 percent of the electricity generated from 2009 to 2011. Last year, coal accounted for 40.7 percent of the electricity supplied.

[BBC]