Pike River agency to breach 170m seal this week after WorkSafe exemption

Monday, 16 December 2019

Pike River families have stood for the first time at the wall that separates them from the men they lost in the coal mine nine years ago. (First published on October 3, 2019)

The Pike River Recovery Agency will breach the mine tunnel's 170-metre seal on Tuesday after tests showed the atmosphere underground is stable.

It is the latest step in a long $36 million project to re-enter the mine where 29 men died in a series of explosions in November 2010. The 30m seal has been removed and the 2.3-kilometre drift ventilated with fresh air.

Going beyond the 170m seal was made possible only after WorkSafe approved the agency's ventilation plan by allowing an exemption to the mining regulations.

Work is done to remove the 30m barrier as part of Pike River re-entry work.

Agency chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson confirmed he would open the double doors at the 170m barrier on Tuesday, weather permitting.

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'It's now been two weeks since we started ventilating the drift. It has gone to plan and last week we confirmed fresh air was at borehole 53 at the top end of the drift.

'Over the past seven days we have been monitoring and assessing and have confirmed we have a stable atmosphere underground.'

Pattinson, two mining team statutory officials, and a geotechnical engineer would walk up to 20m beyond the seal to check the state of the drift and conduct an initial forensic scan.

'The two doors within the barrier will then be closed again until the new year when the entire barrier will be removed. The information gathered during this brief re-entry will assist in planning the removal of the 170m barrier in January,' Pattinson said.

Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little previously said the agency had planned a safe, manned re-entry and recovery of the drift past the 170m barrier. Local and international experts had provided input into the plan.

'The next step is advancing safely up the remainder of the 2.3km drift and carrying out forensic examinations along the way.

'We need to find out as much as possible about what caused 29 men to go to work and not come home. The safe recovery of the mine drift, and its forensic examination, is part of an overdue act of justice.'

WorkSafe said regulations stated there must always be a way for workers to escape from a mine in an intake airway.

The agency sought an exemption so it could use a process called 'forced ventilation', where fresh air is forced by a fan to the working space through a duct and then the air flows back through the roadway to the entrance of the mine.

WorkSafe was satisfied the agency's plan would have the same health and safety outcomes as following the regulation itself.

The exemption applies only to recovery of the 2.3km drift, and the phenolic plug recently installed at the end of the drift must remain in place throughout the recovery work.