AN ex-miner from Griffithstown says he still has not received any compensation for chest disease - because he once worked in a private mine.

Almost 18 months ago we reported that Don George's claim could not be settled, because he worked at a private colliery in Talywain between 1980 and 1985.

Mr George, who is 67 and suffers from emphysema and chronic bronchitis, also spent more than ten years working in the coal board's Blaensychan Colliery.

He lodged his claim in 1998, but said this week he has still received no compensation.

"I haven't worked since I was 45 and had to give up on health grounds," he said.

"I have been told that I am entitled to compensation, but I have not been paid."

The Argus has campaigned for five years for payouts to pitmen, their widows and families to be speeded up.

The original claims-handling agreement, thrashed out between solicitors representing the miners and the government, did not include small private coal mines.

Hugh James solicitors in Merthyr are handling Mr George's claim and solicitor Peter Evans said that although the mines' insurers have now agreed to settle claims for men who worked in private mines after 1972, the agreement has not yet been signed.

He added he believed the agreement should be signed shortly, however, and that the private mine claims should then be settled at the same pace as the rest of the respiratory disease compensation scheme.

Bleddyn Hancock, area secretary for Nacods, said private mines had been just as dusty, if not dustier, than the NCB mines.

And there is little hope of ex-miners receiving any compensation for the time they worked in private mines before 1972.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry said: "Although many private mines were insured prior to 1972, in some cases the insurers are not known or no longer exist and therefore the solicitors cannot seek a contribution for compensation for the period pre-1972.

"Our legal advice is that no employers' liability can attach to the department for these claims.

"Unfortunately where there is no liability, the department cannot make ex-gratia payments."

She added: "Solicitors can approach the financial services compensation scheme on behalf of individual claimants, which will consider the merits on a case-by-case basis."