Pike River Mine

Pike River Mine

Location
Pike River Mine Location in New Zealand
Location	Greymouth
Region	West Coast Region
Country	New Zealand
Coordinates	42°12′19″S 171°28′56″E / 42.20516°S 171.48221°E / -42.20516; 171.48221
Production
Products	Coal
Type	Underground
History
Opened	November 2008 (2008-11)
Closed	2011 (2011)
Owner
Company	Department of Conservation
Year of acquisition	2022

The Pike River Mine is a coal mine formerly operated by Pike River Coal 46 km (29 mi) north-northeast of Greymouth in the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. It is the site of the Pike River Mine disaster that occurred on 19 November 2010, leading to the deaths of 29 men whose remains have not been recovered. The mine and its assets are owned by the Department of Conservation, whom, on 1 July 2022, assumed ownership and management following the dissolution of the Pike River Recovery Agency. The former mine site and its surrounding land are a part of Paparoa National Park.^[1]

The mine was to begin production in early 2008, and was initially expected to produce around one million tonnes of coal per year for around 20 years,^[2] making the mine the second-largest coal export mine in the country, as well as the largest underground coal mine of the country. The estimate for production was reduced to between 320,000 and 360,000 tonnes for 2011. The coal of the mine is described as "New Zealand's largest known deposit of high fluidity and quality hard coking coal" (a type of coal in high demand for iron smelting),^[3] and was expected to earn around NZ$170 million in export income annually.^[4]

Various setbacks occurred during late 2007 and early 2008 delaying the start of coal production. While mine operators were originally confident that production would still start in 2008 (having reached within 400 m (1,300 ft) of the coal seam in early 2008),^[5] in mid-2009 the mine was still not producing at expected levels, with the target of the first 60,000 tons of coal to be shipped having slipped to early 2010. The mine operators noted that technical difficulties with several mining machines were to blame for the delays, which also forced the company to ask for an extension from its financiers.^[6] In February 2010, the first export shipment of 20,000 tons of coal was delivered to India for use in steel production.

An explosion on Friday 19 November 2010 trapped 29 workers inside the mine. Rescuers delayed entering the mine, due to the risk of another explosion. On 24 November, a second explosion occurred and it was subsequently presumed that the workers could not have survived. A third explosion occurred at 3:39 pm 26 November; it appeared to be smaller than the first two. A fourth explosion occurred on 28 November at 1:55 pm.

Initial recovery efforts were abandoned after rescue robots were lost and after insolvency the Pike River Recovery Agency was formed and re-entered the mine in May 2019. As of July 2020 the recovery team had penetrated over 1.4 km into the mine and recovered four original rescue robots previously lost.^[7]

On 17 February 2021, the Pike River Recovery Agency reported that it had reached a point 2.2 km up the mine access tunnel to the site of a rockfall. This was the furthest point into the mine that the agency planned to go, and the work to this point had cost approximately $50 million. On 23 March 2021, the minister responsible for Pike River Re-entry, Andrew Little, stated that it would be too difficult and expensive to go any further into the mine.