BLAENAVON is to get a second economic boost this summer with the completion of a major refurbishment at its biggest tourist attraction, Big Pit.

With the launch of Blaenavon's book town just days away, managers at Big Pit say the mining museum's £7 million refurbishment will be complete by mid August.

And that is expected to lead to a boost in visitor numbers - bringing with them more cash to spend in the Torfaen town.

In recent times Big Pit has had a number of improvement works. They include general repairs and significant restorations of the pit-head baths, sawmill, tramway and the rebuilding of a coach park.

A new museum facility is currently being built which will tell the story of mining in the communities of South Wales.

An audio-visual theatre is also being installed in "underground galleries" on the surface and there will be a new tea room.

A new conservation workshop has already been built which will house the National Mining Collection currently held at Nantgarw.

The building will also be a place of work for conservators and the public will be able to see them collating and conserving items.

Kathryn Stowers, Big Pit's marketing officer, said: "That's a first for Blaenavon. It's good for Big Pit to get that. The collection site is ready to go and is just waiting to get the collection from Nantgarw."

Mrs Stowers added: "All this is part of a £7 million development. It's taken us about two years to do the work, except for the planning stages."

Most of the money for the work, £4million-£5 million, has been provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Other funding came from the Wales Tourist Board and the Assembly. The facility also received a number of donations from private trusts.

The number of visitors to Big Pit were ahead of target in May by more than 1,000.

Mrs Stowers said: "The target was to have 13,000 visitors in May and we had 14,077. We are very hopeful that our target for the year will be realised. The target for the year is to have 116,000 visitors between April and March."

* Blaenavon book town will be launched on World Heritage Day on Saturday.