Daw Mill staff fear if UK Coal went into voluntary liquidation, workers could receive state payouts instead of enhanced benefits if they were not transferred over to a new company.
Mr Mackintosh said small-scale fires were fairly common, but mines could usually be accessed within 48 hours, which he said demonstrated the scale of the blaze at Daw Mill.
This year the long debated theory that the tallest stone at the site is perfectly aligned to the sunset on the longest day, was shown to be highly plausible by site Steward Tim Daw.