The promise to Pike River miners: 'We will not rest and we will never give up. We will return'

Thursday, 10 May 2018

Dinghy Pattinson is aiming to fulfil a promise he made as part of a mines rescue team that sealed up the Pike River mine in 2011. 

The team left a note on the seal 170m up the mine access tunnel, or drift, promising the men they would return to get them out.

Pattinson was also part of the mines rescue team who were ready and waiting for two weeks to go into Pike River after the explosion that killed 29 men on November, 19, 2010. 

Pattinson is now chief operating officer of the coalition Government's new Pike River Recovery Agency in charge of recovering the mine drift.  

**READ MORE: 

*Reentry of West Coast's Pike River mine 'will be done'

​* Pike River families take massive step forward by entering mine portal

* NZ film-maker says new footage shows intact body in Pike River Mine

* Pike River mine recovery should be completed by March, 2019 - PM

* Pike River: Exploring the 'latest' footage and issues surrounding the mine

* Pike River mother says no to reentry appalled by protest**

Pattinson is a fifth generation West Coast coal miner. His great grandfather John William Pattinson was only 36 when he was killed in 1896 in the Brunner Mine disaster. 

Pattinson certainly has the grit and experience to get the job done. 

He's been an underground miner for 42 years, 37 of which were coal mining including managing three West Coast coal mines. He has even previously recovered a coal mine following an explosion. 

'I've been in Mines Rescue for 34 years. Back in '93 I led the recovery of Huntly West Mine which had an explosion at the end of '92. We recovered that mine and then got it back into production on a smaller scale,' he said. 

Pattinson spent two weeks at Pike River after the explosion waiting to get the men out. 

'Everybody wanted to go in but we never had enough information. We had no gas readings, nothing like that so you couldn't expose people to that risk,' he said.

He said the gas monitoring hadn't been working at the mine, and they knew the methane drainage pipes would have been ruptured in the explosion. 

'If you walk [in] you're in the gun barrel so to speak. There was no way anybody was going to allow anybody to go in there without gas readings, simple as that. As much as we wanted to go in. The day of the second explosion it was looking like we were going to go in but then the explosion happened,' he said. 

'Here we are eight years later. When this came up I thought 'this is the job for me'. I don't know what it was whether it was my West Coast connection, mining connection or just to do it for the families, or just to do it for myself to be honest.'

The agency's objective is a safe manned re-entry of the mine drift by March 2019. It was set up by the new Government in January with a budget of $23m over three years. It was an election promise for Labour, the Greens and NZ First after some Pike River family members successfully protested against the former National Government's plans to put permanently seal in the mine.

National and state-owned mining company Solid Energy determined manned re-entry could not be done safely. Solid Energy took over the mine from Pike River Coal liquidators in 2012. 

The agency recently held a four-day workshop of about 30 people, including technical experts, WorkSafe and family members, and came up with a concept plan for re-entry.

The concept plan will need to go through a full risk assessment and be approved by Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little before it is fleshed out into a detailed plan. The agency is currently asking contractors for tenders to perform the recovery. 

Pattinson explains the first part of the concept plan is to reestablish the 170m seal by removing the partial permanent seal at 30m which Solid Energy had begun to construct in 2016. 

It also includes creating a second exit in the form of a 600mm borehole with a winch, a new smaller access tunnel or a tunnel within the drift. 

The next step is to make the drift a 'fresh air environment' by first flooding the whole mine with nitrogen.

'We're going to put some more boreholes down. We're going to put one at the highest part of the workings of the mine because methane is lighter than air so naturally rises. We're going to inject nitrogen into the portal and that will push the methane out up the boreholes,' he said. 

They would then allow fresh air in the portal and use a nitrogen plug to stop it getting into the mine workings. A nitrogen plug is created by pumping nitrogen down the boreholes to the rockfall and the fresh air will only come as far as that nitrogen. 

'Nitrogen is an inert gas. It's non explosive. We're going to make the whole environment inert with nitrogen. There might be some cavities that will still have methane but that is all manageable. Dealing with methane in small quantities like that is what coal miners do every day. It's our bread and butter.'

The recovery team would then enter the mine in stages checking for pockets of methane, rock stability and look for any remains and forensic evidence as to what caused the explosion. 

'A LONG TIME COMING'

Anna Osborne has been fighting tirelessly for justice and recovery since her husband Milton died in the explosion. She wants to bury her husband in the place of her choosing. She, along with other family members Sonya Rockhouse and Bernie Monk, led the protest at the Pike River access road against Solid Energy's plan to permanently seal the mine. Police were called repeatedly to accompany Solid Energy workers past protesters. 

Being part of the workshop and coming up with a concept plan with experts, was a world away from being treated like a criminal by Solid Energy and ignored by the National Government for eight years, she said. 

'There was no will from the last Government to actually get into the drift, there was nothing good to come out of it for them whereas this Government is so different. It's like a breath of fresh air. It's so good to see progress starting to happen for the families finally. For us it's been such a long time coming,' she said.

She had full confidence the manned re-entry to the drift would be done safely. 

Little said Solid Energy had completed a plan for a manned re-entry but was rejected by its board and the National Government in 2014 because it was deemed the risks to life were too high.

Little said he did not agree. 

'Having read most of those reports I'm surprised that conclusion was taken. They say they were concerned about the risks but the reality is it was a company under huge financial pressure. 

'It was disingenuous. From what I've read this can be done provided the risks are mitigated. They said it is possible. They didn't want to spend the money. It was financially too risky,' he said. 

On becoming Minister he handed the keys of the Pike River mine over to families, a symbolic gesture after months of the families protesting behind a locked gate across the Pike River access road. He was recently photographed hugging family members at the mine portal. 

He acknowledges his personal feelings about the issue could be seen to cloud his judgement. 

'That's why I have appointed [Former Air New Zealand chief executive] Rob Fyfe as an independent advisor to make sure I make a good decision. I do feel a personal wish to bring closure to all those involved from the outset,' he said.

However, he also had to acknowledge that not all families want re-entry.

'Two families have approached me they are of the view that their loved ones should be left where they lie. I am respectful of that view. They don't want the remains of their loved ones interfered with,' he said.

He pointed out the agency's mandate was supported by a clear majority of families and for now was only to recover the drift, which is less likely to contain bodies than the main workings of the mine.

'WHAT DO THEY THINK THEY ARE GOING TO FIND?'

National Party spokesperson for Pike River re-entry Chris Finlayson said the decision not to re-enter the mine was based on the advice of Solid Energy that while manned re-entry was technically possible, it could not be done safely without putting lives at risk.

'We were not willing to take that risk. National wishes the new team attempting the recovery of the lost men's remains every success. We want closure for the families as much as everyone. We hope political imperatives for success do not compromise the importance of safety .'

'The decision to re-enter Pike River has always been solely about health and safety and it should remain so,' Finlayson said. 

Marion Curtin's son Richard Holling, 41, was among the 29 men killed. 

She is appalled her son's death has been used as a political tool. 

'I want my son to remain undisturbed,' she said. 'I hate the whole idea. I believe it's a form of sacrilege.

'What could you possibly find that caused the explosion? What do they think they're going to find?' she questioned. 

Pattinson, 57, knew many of the 29 men who lie entombed at Pike River and personally wants to bring them home. 

'You can't let your emotion rule your decision making. At the end of the day safety comes first. The last thing we want is to hurt anybody else,' he said. 

He is clearly itching to get into the drift again. 

'I'd love to go in but my number one priority is the safety of everyone on the site.'

'It's just personal really. We've been waiting for it. It's an unfinished job,' he said.

'Rest assured I might not be the first person in there, but I will be going in there at some stage. But if I have to take a backwards step to oversee the whole thing, that's my job. I couldn't think of a better role to be in.'

He remembers the note mines rescue left in 2011 'to tell the guys we were coming to get them'.

It read: 'This has been the first step to bring you home to your loved ones. We will not rest and we will never give up. We will return.'