McCullough rejected claims made in a Financial Times article that the firm was battling with cash flow problems after the fire that closed its Daw Mill Colliery.

The article quoted spokesman Andrew Mackintosh, who said the fire had “left the company with insufficient cash to meet running costs and made further restructuring inevitable.”

“We lost £100m of equipment, £160m of coal and have £35m of costs,” Mackintosh said.

The Financial Times also claimed to have read a document revealing that the company’s cash flow problems recently caused it to request a deferral of payments to HM Revenue & Customs, but that the request was turned down.

“As a result, the directors of UK Coal Operations are seeking a voluntary liquidation to avoid being forced into insolvency,” the news source said, also stating that the liquidation would endanger 2000 jobs, 6800 pensions and the future of its six remaining mines.

UK Coal issued a statement yesterday saying: "We remain positive that we have an underlying profitable business."

McCullough added: "I hope we are close to securing a way forward for our remaining mines. There will undoubtedly be some difficult decisions as we have had to look at all possible options."

McCullough also told BBC News: "There has been some further unhelpful and inaccurate speculation."

He said the company's "main focus" had been "preserving 2000 jobs and securing the future of UK coal mining".

It is nearly 10 weeks since the ferocious fire broke out at Daw Mill, forcing its closure and putting 650 employees out of work.