18 Jan 2011

Mine families happy at receivers' course of action

9:52 pm on 18 January 2011

Lawyers for the families of the Pike River Coal workers are confident that the receivers have enough money to continue efforts to stabilise the West Coast mine.

Last week, police announced they were abandoning efforts to retrieve the bodies of the 29 men who were killed inside the mine in explosions beginning on 19 November.

Pike River Coal Ltd was put into receivership on 13 December. A Royal Commission will be held into the disaster later this year.

On Monday, the receivers from PricewaterhouseCoopers said they would continue work to stabilise the atmosphere inside the mine, but that the recovery of the remains of the workers was extremely unlikely.

The receivers will take over efforts to stabilise the mine from police at the end of January.

A lawyer acting for the families, Colin Smith, said they are happy with the receivers' course of action, which means efforts to stabilise the mine could continue until the end of March.

Mr Smith said the families should have a better idea whether a recovery operation is feasible by then.

American mine safety expert Davitt McAteer said if it is not possible to enter the mine to investigate what has gone on, that should not stop the Royal Commission's work - but it does make it more difficult.

Mr McAteer said it is likely the commission will end up with a preliminary report until there is the opportunity to go into the mine.

Families to assess Pike River status

The legal team acting for the families will ask independent experts to assess reports saying the mine is unsafe to enter.

Nicholas Davidson, QC, expects police to hand over data used to support their decision to stop their recovery efforts sometime this week and the families will be able to make their own assessment once this has been examined.

Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee said he wants to reassure the public that no one involved in the rescue effort is withholding information and that the families will receive full disclosure.

Labour Party leader Phil Goff said the families should have been given more information and, if that had occurred, he believed they would have accepted the decisions being made.

Mine not safe to enter - Brownlee

Mr Brownlee says the Pike River Coal mine is still far from a state in which entry would be safe.

He told Summer Report the mine's atmosphere could become made stable if full of methane, but would not be breathable.

"The initial expectation from the (Pike River Coal) company was that once the GAG machine was put in place the mine could be made inert within five to 12 hours," he said.

"We are 35 plus days out with the GAG machine and still no stability in that mine and I think that indicates the volatility of the atmosphere in there."

He said no one was putting up their hand to go into the mine.

Recovery 'extremely unlikely'

Receiver John Fisk told Summer Report Pike River Coal will continue work to try to make the mine fully stable for the next five to eight weeks, and that will give all parties time to make decisions about the mine's future.

Mr Fisk said the receivers had to agree with police that recovery of remains was "extremely unlikely", which he said was a "terrible situation" for the families to be in.

Receivers will be talking to the families and letting them know how they are progressing with the work they are proposing to do, he said.

Mr Fisk said the work will be paid for from the company's cash reserves, but future phases might be constrained by the limited money available.