Pike River re-entry could cost $12m more than $23m budget, minister says

Saturday, 14 July 2018

The plan to re-enter the Pike River mine could cost up to $12 milllion more than the $23 million budget, Stuff understands.

Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little announced on the West Coast today that he is set to sign off on the re-entry concept plans for the mine.

The Government had budgeted $7.6 million a year for three years, totalling up to $23m, for the Pike River Recovery Agency and re-entry to the mine.

**READ MORE: 

* The promise to Pike River miners

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

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

An explosion ripped through the West Coast mine on November 19, 2010, killing 29 men. Their bodies have not been recovered. 

The agency had completed a concept plan for re-entry and it is now before Little for approval. He said his independent advisor, former Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe, had approved the process and the concept plan. 

Little wanted to update all the Pike River families before signing off on the concept plan, which had been developed by the agency after two workshops with technical experts. All 29 families were invited to a briefing on the plan at the agency in Greymouth on Saturday. 

Little said he was happy with the concept plan. 

'All indications are from the meeting we've now had … the families are satisfied with it. Unless anything comes after the families have their own private meeting, I expect I will sign it off,' he said. 

The concept plan includes three options, all of which were likely to cost more than $23m. One option is to drive a new 200m tunnel into the drift as a second means of escape. It also includes purging methane from the mine with nitrogen and allowing fresh air into the drift.  It would also need to go through a detailed planning stage followed by a full risk assessment before a decision would be made to go into the drift. 

When asked if he had told Cabinet the agency would need up to $12m more, Little said one of the options could cost up to that amount, but others would be less than that. 

'We won't know exactly what the figures are until more detailed work has been done. I've briefed both Cabinet and the relevant Parliamentary Select Committee to expect it will cost more than we originally anticipated when we put the agency together at the end of last year,' he said. 

Cabinet had indicated it would 'top up' the budget because it was fully committed to the project. The coalition Government had made a commitment to re-enter the drift if it could be done safely, he said. 

Re-entry campaigner Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton died in the mine, said she knew the Government 'doesn't have an open cheque book' but believed safe re-entry would happen. 

She was pleased that the agency had held the meeting for all the Pike River families and was open and transparent with them about the process and challenges. 

Rowdy Durbridge, whose son Daniel Herk died in the mine, said he was more than happy with the concept plan and the agency's work.

'I know some of the people working on this plan and I have every faith in them,' he said. 

A tender process is due to be completed by the end of next week for contractors to carry out the re-entry project.