Nottinghamshire County Council is seeking "urgent" talks with the owners of Thoresby Colliery to try and keep the county's last remaining deep coal mine open.
UK Coal has announced that it will close the Edwinstowe pit in 18 months and unless it can secure investment from the Government it could shut sooner.
As a result the council is seeking to hold talks with UK Coal, Government officials and the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership to see what can be done to save more than 500 jobs.
Councillor Alan Rhodes, leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, said: "UK Coal is still a large employer in Nottinghamshire. Closing Thoresby Colliery would have a devastating impact on nearby communities, where the unemployment rate and levels of deprivation are already above the national average.
"We are seeking urgent talks with partners in Government, the Local Enterprise Partnership and UK Coal to secure the immediate future of Thoresby Colliery and discuss the longer term future.
"Coal still plays an important part in the UK's energy mix. It would be crazy to damage the UK and Nottinghamshire economy by halting production of the plentiful stocks still available at Thoresby, in favour of increasing imports from elsewhere in the world.
"It is essential that we look further ahead too. While we must exhaust all the options to try and keep Thoresby open, if there is then no option other than closure, we will be asking the Government to provide assistance to all the partners for the retraining of employees, the creation of equivalent quality jobs and the successful redevelopment of the site."
The unemployment rate in the Mansfield Travel to Work Area, which includes Thoresby Colliery is 3.3 per cent - higher than the national average of 3 per cent.
Other former coalfield communities such as Clipstone and Boughton have rates closer to 4.2 per cent.
