A WORCESTER factory is celebrating clinching a multi-million pound deal to make mining equipment.

The order will help selfguard the jobs of Joy Mining's 400-strong workforce at Bromyard Road in St John's.

A spokesman for the firm, which also has sites in Wigan and near Nottingham, said its employees in the Faithful City would be a key component in producing equipment for the soon-to-be-re-opened Hatfield colliery, near Doncaster, making it the most productive mine in Europe.

It comes after we reported yesterday initial details of the exciting £37m deal with Powerfuel, which will produce about two million tonnes of coal a year from the colliery once it is fully operational.

The firm's manufacturing operation is in Bromyard Road and the deal - combined with contracts with companies worldwide - means a healthy future for its employees.

The spokesman said: "It's a major order of high-tech cutting edge technology and Worcester is the hub of this operation so it'll be a major boost for them as well as the other suppliers of goods and services that support the Worcester factory.

"We're exceptionally proud to be manufacturing this equipment for a major British institution and it adds to the very healthy order book the Worcester site already has."

Worcester workers will manufacture and assemble two sets of coal cutting and ancillary equipment - the first of which will take a year to construct - after initial designs and tests are conducted at the firm's Wigan site.

They will then be transferred to its sales and service support centre at Pinxton near Nottingham for final testing.

Christopher Harvey, policy and lobbying manager for the Chamber of Commerce Herefordshire and Worcestershire, said it was `extremely good news' for both the company and the city.

He added: "It obviously gives them significant business over the coming years so that's great for them for their employees but also for the future of Worcester."

Joy Mining took over Longwall Mining in 1995, which had been producing mining equipment in Worcester since 1909 - when the company was founded by George Blake Walker - making it one of the city's oldest companies.

It started out at the Mining Engineering Company (Meco) in 1909 and became Dowty Meco in 1979, later becoming Longwall Mining after it merged with the Dobson Park Group. In its heyday, more than 1,000 employees passed through its gates in Worcester.

Crisis talks with business leaders and Worcestershire County Council prevented a feared move of the company from Worcester to Wigan in 1999 with the potential loss of some 200 jobs.

Less than a year later a five-month refurbishment of redundant buildings at its premises were unveiled.

St John's county councillor Richard Udall welcomed the latest news.

He said: "I'm delighted for the workforce who have managed to make a quality product through all the difficulties the mining industry has been through."