Selby coalfield (also known as the Selby complex or Selby superpit) was a large-scale deep underground mine complex based around Selby, North Yorkshire, England, developed by the National Coal Board in the 1970s. With pitheads at Wistow Mine, Stillingfleet Mine, Riccall Mine, North Selby Mine, Whitemoor Mine and Gascoigne Wood Mine. All coal was brought to the surface and treated at Gascoigne Wood before being distributed by rail. To protect rail services the East Coast Main Line was diverted on the Selby Diversion.

Production began in 1983, and peaked in 1993–94 at 12 million tonnes per year, about 45 percent of United Kingdom deep-mined production, and the complex produced over 121 million tonnes in total before closure. The mines were acquired by RJB Mining (later UK Coal) in 1997 after the privatisation of the coal industry. Withdrawal of financial subsidy, geological problems and low United Kingdom coal prices made the complex unprofitable by the early 21st century. Closure was announced in 2002 and mining ceased by 2004.

Exploration in the 1960s and early 1970s identified a northern extension of the Barnsley Seam between 1.9 and 3.25 m thick, with an estimate of 600 million tonnes in that seam and total reserves of around 2,000 million tonnes. Because open extraction would have required a stripping ratio of about 500:1, underground mining was chosen. A report, Coal reserves in the Selby Area, appeared in 1972. Planning permission was sought in 1974 and granted in 1976 after objections including concerns about subsidence and flooding. Extraction was limited to the Barnsley seam, though other seams were present.

In the early 1970s national energy planning favoured large, modern units over investment in older collieries. The Selby scheme was advanced as a high-productivity complex with a deliberately small surface footprint in the Vale of York, achieved by concentrating surface plant at Gascoigne Wood and linking the five mines underground. The planned conveyor drifts from Wistow and Riccall to Gascoigne Wood were about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) long respectively, part of an underground network that would eventually extend for hundreds of kilometres.

In 1974, the Labour Government and National Coal Board (NCB), backed by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) launched the Plan for Coal after the 1973 oil crisis. The plan continued the closure of older pits while investing in new capacity, and the Selby coalfield was a major element of it.

As part of the construction programme, the NCB paid for diversion of the East Coast Main Line away from Selby to avoid areas at risk of mining subsidence (see Selby Diversion). Above-ground equipment such as winding gear was enclosed and kept relatively low to limit visual impact in the rural landscape. Shafts were sunk in the late 1970s and Wistow Mine began production in 1983.

The project was formally inaugurated by the Duchess of Kent in 1976. Initial estimates were a construction cost of £400 million and a workforce of 4,000, with extraction starting in the early 1980s, lasting about 40 years and producing 10 million tonnes per year. The scheme used an unusual arrangement: five satellite pits to the east (Wistow, North Selby, Riccall, Stillingfleet and Whitemoor) transferred coal by tunnel to the drift mine at Gascoigne Wood, where all coal was brought to the surface and processed.

The workforce was planned from the outset to be transferred from 11 collieries nearing exhaustion around Wakefield and Rothwell, starting in 1978–79 with miners from Walton Colliery near Wakefield. The transfer programme was due by 1986, but the Nostell miners did not arrive until 1987 and the process finished with the transfer of Sharlston miners in 1993. Large car parks were built to support commuting.