Pike River re-entry slower than expected, admits minister

Wednesday, 2 December 2020

Families gather for the 10th anniversary of the Pike River mine disaster at the Atarau memorial near Greymouth. (Video first published November 19, 2020)

Re-entry work at the far end of the Pike River mine drift is going more slowly than expected because of the level of damage in the area, the minister responsible for the project says.

Speaking on Newstalk ZB on Wednesday, Andrew Little said critical forensic work would be done at that end of the drift and it would be up to police to decide whether that would lead to any charges being laid.

Re-entry work was within about 50 metres of the Rocsil plug – a foam plug that was installed about 2240m from the drift portal as part of the recovery effort.

The Pike River re-entry workers outside the mine entrance.

The plug is about 26m short of the roof fall at the end of the drift. It provides a separation barrier between the fresh air atmosphere in the drift, and the nitrogen and methane atmosphere of the mine workings.

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Removing the 30m barrier early in the re-entry of the drift.

“Progress at this point is slower than anybody expected because of the level of damage at that end of the drift,” Little said.

More work also had to be done at the Pit Bottom in Stone (PBIS) area. “They’ve got to pull a lot of equipment out of there,” Little said.

PBIS starts about 1885m up the drift tunnel and housed various mining infrastructure, including underground electrical substations, switchboards, sumps, pumps and crushers. It is considered the critical area for forensic examination and was reached in mid-September.

The plan is for a ventilation control device to be built on the drift entrance side of the Rocsil plug. After that is done, roadways at PBIS will be fully recovered and detailed forensic work carried out in the area.

“The police are all geared up to go in. They know that the critical forensic work is going to be done at that end of the mine,” Little said.

In the end, any decision about charges would be up to police.

“But what we will be able to say, regardless of what happens in a few weeks time, we can … say ‘we’ve done everything we possibly can and the outcome is the outcome’.”

Twenty-nine men died when explosions ripped through the mine, 46km northeast of Greymouth, in November 2010.