The site is one of six landmarks across the country vying for the cash. Ranked among the top 10 geological sites in the world, the lottery funds would be spent transforming the Seven Sisters Mines, which have been closed for many years.

A shortlist will be drawn up before the public get to choose which project should win the money in a live vote next October dubbed the People’s Millions.

Deputy council leader Councillor Charles Macnamara is keen for the Black Country to get behind the scheme. He said: “This can be best be described as a beauty contest with £50million of investment up for grabs. We need to do all we can to support this.

“Let’s hope the people of Dudley and the Black Country’s one million residents pick up their phones and vote for the project in the public vote.”

Earlier this year, adjudicators from the Big Lottery Fund carried out a two-day fact-finding visit at the reserve site and agreed it was worthy of being put on a national shortlist.

The project in Dudley would see the mines and surrounding underground caves stabilised and once again open to the public.

They were closed due to safety concerns and partially collapsed in 2001.

Co-ordinated by the Black Country Consortium, the scheme is made up of three flagship projects, also including a green space corridor from Walsall Arboretum to Dartmouth Park, West Bromwich, and the canals and waterways of Wolverhampton.