Thread: Pike River Mine to be sealed

IMHO a hard but good decision.

better it sealed and made a tomb of 29 than leave it open and it be the death trap of how many more?

Very sad to hear that. I was hoping, as I think we all were, that they would be able to recover the bodies and at least give the lads a decent funeral. A good friend of mine is one of them. Do you know why that decision was made, were they unable to extinguish the fire even with the GAG and nitrogen flooding or is there some other reason (financial?) why they have given up. I did hear a rumour the other day about receivership happening.

from the late news last night on SBS it was for safety reasons.

Originally Posted by Bearman

Very sad to hear that. I was hoping, as I think we all were, that they would be able to recover the bodies and at least give the lads a decent funeral. A good friend of mine is one of them. Do you know why that decision was made, were they unable to extinguish the fire even with the GAG and nitrogen flooding or is there some other reason (financial?) why they have given up. I did hear a rumour the other day about receivership happening.

Yes, the mine has been in receivership now since Christmas or thereabouts. A quote from the news article...

Police Commissioner Howard Broad yesterday said the police would end their efforts to recover the remains of the men trapped in the coalmine since a series of explosions in November.
Today Key said the mine would be sealed and there was no chance of recovering the remains of the miners.
"There has been substantial damage inside the mine from what we can tell, it's an unsafe environment," he said.
"The Government was fully committed to doing everything we could to making sure the bodies were removed and that full closure could be achieved for those families but that's just not possible and it's not an issue of money or time or commitment

Key said the decision was based on three independent experts and international advice.
"We accept the decision the police have made, we think it's been based on sound foundation and those independent opinions."

Key said the recovery plan, which was to use the GAG machine - a modified jet engine used to neutralise gases - to allow miners access to the mine, had failed.

snip

"If there was anything I could do to make that happen I would make it happen, but in the end we actioned a plan, it was a plan on the best advice and that plan has failed."
Key said he could not rule out the mine ever being used again but in the short term it would not be operational.

Earlier today Pike River receivers said the ''hard reality'' was that if there wasn't enough money to get back into the mine, the land would be handed back to the Government.
The comments came as Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee put pressure on the receivers to ''step up'' and submit their plan for the mine by 5pm on Monday.

I guess it is a combination of too hard and too unsafe. Politically, I am sure that if the Govt could, they would try to recover (cynical I know).

The last couple of news articles have the mine status so...

Pike River statement from Commissioner Howard Broad

Pike River mine recovery efforts thwarted

Most Pike River hearings in Greymouth

Thanks for keeping us up to date. I wonder why the GAG was unsuccessfull, up to now it's been a tried and proven way of extinguishing u/g mine fires.

A real shame.

A shame, but logical in terms of safety for rescuers and other mine workers ... But on a polictical level, im on the same cynical page mate, govt has to be seen to be willing to do everything they can, just so to not get the voters offside ...

RIP to the 29 lost