The father of one of the men killed in the Pike River mine last year says the families' main focus is on recovering the men's bodies and no one is looking for revenge.
New Zealanders don't leave their fallen behind, Steve Rose says, and recovery must be a priority.
"The families are not vindictive, they're not revengeful, they don't want to see some poor prick hung out to dry over it," Mr Rose told Radio New Zealand's Insight programme.
"That may all happen in the future in terms of justice being served legally and fairly. We want our boys back, we want the information, we want to protect the industry for the future - and lives for the future."
Twenty-nine workers were killed in a series of explosions at the mine.
Call for reinstatement of inspections
A former safety manager at the mine, Neville Rockhouse, told the programme whoever buys the mine must retrieve the bodies and use the profits from extracting coal again to pay for the recovery operation.
Mr Rockhouse lost one of his sons in the disaster but another made it out alive.
The union representing miners says the mine should be reopened but there will need to be changes so it can operate safely.
Trevor Bolderson of the Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union told the programme the way mines were inspected, which was scrapped in the 1990s, should be reinstated.
