Re-entry of West Coast's Pike River mine 'will be done'
Wednesday, 2 May 2018
'Nothing is impossible' when it comes to re-entering the West Coast mine where 29 men died, experts say.
Family representatives and about 31 technical experts have met in Greymouth this week to come up with a plan for a safe manned entry of the Pike River mine drift.
The plan will include ventilating the entire mine and potentially building a second means of escape for recovery specialists.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Pike River Recovery Agency chief executive Dave Gawn said he was confident the mine drift could be re-entered safely.
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Twenty-nine men died when the coal mine exploded on November 19, 2010. Two survivors made it out. The mine was later deemed too dangerous to re-enter by the National Government and Solid Energy, which bought the mine after the disaster.
The technical experts are working on a plan to reenter the 2.3-kilometre access tunnel (or drift) to recover bodies and gather any evidence to find out how the explosion happened.
Gawn said he would present the plan to Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little in June. The agency was also looking for contractors to carry out the final plan and reentry.
'The key to any of this plan we've got is to ensure those risks are managed so that no-one gets hurt and it meets health and safety legislation,' he said.
The previous Government had said the mine could not be re-entered due to health and safety legislation brought in as a result of the Pike River disaster.
The agency has a budget of $23 million over three years, which Gawn said 'should be sufficient'.
'We're doing this concept plan to recover the drift, which is the mandate that I've been given by the Government. We'll also do … a feasibility study in terms of the subsequent reentry into the mine workings themselves, but it is a Government decision as to whether that will happen,' he said.
Agency chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson said the plan included ventilating the mine drift and the 5.5km of tunnels in the main mine workings to create a fresh air environment. It is currently in an inert state with near saturation of methane and is sealed 170m up the drift.
The plan could also include building a second means of escape in the form of a bore hole with a ladder or winch.
'We will purge the methane and use nitrogen barriers where we need to and bring fresh air into it,' Pattinson said. The nitrogen would act as a barrier to prevent methane seeping back into the mine.
The main mine is blocked by rockfall at the end of the drift. He said cameras would be put down new and existing bore holes to determine the extent of the rockfall.
One of the technical experts, Terra Firma mine manager Lincoln Smith, said the group was exploring ways to manage hazards including the risk of further fire, explosion and rockfall.
'None are insurmountable. I have a high level of confidence we can come up with a feasible plan,' he said.
Bernie Monk, whose son Michael died in the mine, said he believed re-entry would be 'easy' after talking to the technical experts at the workshop.
'This is definitely going to work. I haven't seen so much possibility and people so positive in the room that they want this to happen. Hand on heart I can't see why it has taken coming up eight years to get to this stage that we've done in four days,' he said.
Anna Osborne, whose husband Milt died in the mine, said the family members had been involved every step of the way.
'We appreciate being alongside the team as they formulate a plan to get into the drift. From what I've been privy to there is no reason this can't be achieved. This can be and will be done,' she said.