Conveyor belt not linked to second explosion at Pike River mine - police

Saturday, 4 May 2019

The entrance to the Pike River coal mine is pictured on May 03, 2019, near Greymouth.

There is no evidence that a conveyor belt caused a second explosion at the Pike River mine in 2010, police say.

In a statement released on Saturday, police said they had finished investigating claims that a conveyor belt inside the mine was started on November 24, 2010, causing the second explosion inside the mine.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, left, and Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little, right, console family members at the entrance to the Pike River coal mine on May 3.

Twenty-nine mine died in the West Coast mine, which first exploded on November 19, 2010.

The police investigation, which began in August 2018, included reviewing the design and operation of the conveyor belt, along with the known circumstances leading up to the second explosion.

* The road to getting back into Pike River

* Former cop: 'Compelling' evidence conveyor belt on before Pike explosion

* Father of Pike River miner alleges police set off second explosion**

'Police have found no evidence to suggest that the conveyor belt was operated or started at any time after the first explosion on 19 November 2010, and no evidence of any causative link to the three subsequent explosions that occurred between 24 and 28 November 2010,' the statement said.

Police said they found no evidence anyone had gained access to a CCTV monitored hut near the mine portal where the conveyor belt was operated from.

They also found no evidence anyone with the required technical knowledge accessed the computer systems to deactivate audible alarms that would have sounded before the belt started.

The inquiry also found the conveyor could not be started from the Pike River Coal Ltd control room, the statement said.

It said police consulted with experts and found no evidence that there was an explosive atmosphere of gas next to the conveyor system or allied electrical circuits, and no evidence that the atmosphere at the grizzly, where the belt ends, was anything other than fresh air.

'These findings confirm the initial police assessment of these claims, which we made public in a media statement on 26 September 2018,' the police statement said.

Police met with Pike River families on Saturday to inform them of the outcome of the investigation.

The Family Reference Group (FRG), which represents 28 families of the 29 men who died, called for anyone with evidence relating to the mine disaster to come forward now.

FRG member Anna Osborne said the families had waited nearly nine years 'for truth and justice' and the results of the police investigation showed the situation was being taken seriously.

'The police have been clear that the re-entry of the drift has opened the door for more evidence to come to light and we are pleased they are making good on that.

'We are aware that members of the public may still be holding significant evidence. We urge anyone who has files, names, or any other form of evidence to bring it forward to the police now.'

Plans to re-enter the Pike River mine drift, or access tunnel, were delayed on Friday after oxygen, which could cause a fire, was detected in the mine during testing.

Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little told Newshub Nation on Saturday that it appeared the monitoring equipment was 'faulty'.

'There is more testing to do. What it means now [is] that all of the monitoring equipment will now have to be tested.'

The work could take a couple of weeks, then drilling on the 30-metre seal at entrance to the mine's drift could recommence, he said.

Little told Newshub Nation he believed the mine was 'safer now' than it was when it exploded in 2010, but the re-entry was a 'complex operation' and the team was working to 'very, very high' health and safety standards.