On 6 November 2014, Solid Energy announced that it would not continue with the project to re-enter the drift (main access tunnel) at the former Pike River Mine in the Grey District because the company considered that the risks to life remained too high.
Solid Energy bought the assets of Pike River Coal Ltd (in receivership) on 17 July 2012 and entered into agreements with the Government setting out responsibilities around recovery of the bodies of the 29 men who were killed in the mine explosion in November 2010. Since the purchase, the company has held regular meetings with the Pike River families’ group.
- Pike River Mine borehole video footage and calscan images Borehole footage, that Solid Energy believes contains images of one body in Borehole 47, has not been uploaded to this site due to privacy obligations. (Users will need to download the files, and use suitable software to view)
- Open Letter from the Directors of Solid Energy regarding Pike River
- Here, you can read the company’s 6 November 2014 announcement about the project, along with the answers to questions the company has received
- Prof Galvin advice to Board regarding Steering Committee report
- Here you can read the Steering Committee Report dated 4 November 2014 to the Health and Safety committee on the re-entry options into the Pike River Mine drift.
- The Government’s 6 November 2014 statement, Govt to engage with families on next steps at Pike River
Technical documents
A number of people and news media organisations have asked Solid Energy for reports made by and for the company in relation to the project. Several of these are available here. They are:
- Schematic of the conceptual drift re-entry plan which the company developed and evaluated. The technical information below supported the decision that this plan was not feasible or safe.
- Initial Workplace Risk Assessment and Control (WRAC) titled Risk Analysis for the Access to Drift by the Remote Installation of an Isolation Plug at Pike River Mine (15 August 2013), by Jim Knowles Group and project team
- Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) of Potential Unwanted Top Level Events (28 July 2014), by HMS Consultants Australia Pty Ltd
- Event Tree Analysis (ETA) of Potential Unwanted Top Level Events (30 July 2014), by HMS Consultants Australia Pty Ltd
- Separate Bow Tie Analyses (July 2014) of
- Adverse health effects
- Entrapment from debris fall
- Entrapment from strata fall
- Fire on mobile plant
- Gas ignition
- Helicopter crash
- Mobile plant human interaction
- Person injured by FOG or infrastructure
- Person overcome by irrespirable atmosphere
- Personnel injured by inrush
- Re-ignition of mine fire
- WRAC review (18 February 2014), by Jim Knowles Group and project team
- A report on ventilation and gas management in respect of the drift re-entry project (27 June 2014), by Dr Roy Moreby of Morvent Mining Ltd.
- A technical review of the proposed re-entry plan and associated risk management (October 2014), by Dr Dennis Black, principal consultant of Pacific MGM
- A review of the geotechnical considerations associated with the proposed drift re-entry (15 October 2014), by Rob Thomas, underground coal practice leader of Golder Associates
- Solid Energy project steering committee final review of risk rankings (October 2014)
Documents relating to the initial purchase of the Pike River Coal Ltd (in receivership) assets are:
- Body Recovery Deed (PDF, 617 KB)
- Reimbursement of Costs Deed (PDF, 582 KB)