Mining company Hargreaves has been accused of cherry-picking the best bit of Fife’s opencast mines.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie made the claim after it was announced that the company had opted out of buying Blair House mine near Oakley even though it had purchased three other interests in Fife, including St Ninians near Kelty.
The Mid Scotland and Fife MSP has previously called for a public inquiry and for companies to meet the full costs of future mine restoration.
Last week Hargreaves, which is based in Durham, announced an £8.4 million deal to snap up some of the resources left after the collapse of Scottish Coal.
The new agreement would lead to 300 jobs being created as the company brings five mines including St Ninians back into use.
The jobs tally is expected to rise to 500 as the opencast sites reach their full production potential.
The agreement will see the transfer of Scottish Coal’s interests in five former active mining sites to newly created subsidiaries of Scottish Coal.
These will continue to be responsible for the resolution of outstanding restoration liabilities at these sites.
Hargreaves has also acquired a number of other assets, including a property of 30,000 acres, plant and equipment.
However, the deal does not include the mothballed Scottish Coal site of Blair House in west Fife.
Meanwhile, liquidator KPMG was also forced to admit defeat in its efforts to sell the ATH Resources site at Muir Dean on the outskirts of Crossgates.
That site supported around 100 workers and contractors before ATH fell into administration.
Hargreaves had agreed to buy other assets of ATH subsidiary Aardvark TMC.
Mr Rennie claimed that last month Hargreaves had acquired ATH Group assets but had “refused” to buy the Muir Dean mine.
“Although it is helpful to see some of the sites bought and jobs secured I am disappointed that Hargreaves have opted to cherry-pick the sites they want and dump the rest.
“Blair House and Muir Dean are now left derelict.”
Dunfermline and West Fife MP Thomas Docherty is watching the Blair House site with interest.
The Labour MP said: “Scottish Coal’s liabilities have been reduced by this announcement and I will continue to monitor the situation at Blair House as Scottish Coal retain responsibility for the future of the site.”