Pike team urged to go further

The roof fall blocking entry to the main workings of the Pike River mine is not as big or impassable as previously thought.

Some families are calling on the Government to go further into the mine in light of the new information about the extent of the roof fall and how close the reentry team were to the main ventilation fan.

The fan is considered a vital piece of evidence that may reveal the cause of the explosion that killed 29 men in 2010. However, the Government is refusing to budge from its decision to stop at the end of the 2.3-kilometre access tunnel, or drift.

The Pike River Recovery Agency was tasked by the Government to complete a $50 million re-entry of the mine’s access tunnel, which it achieved last month.

Agency chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson said it was technically possible to get past the roof fall. Obstacles included cost and whether would be made available.

The revelation came as police asked the Government to extend the agency’s mandate to include putting cameras down six boreholes to examine areas of interest in the mine workings.

The families and the public had always been told that there was a massive rockfall – up to 50 metres long – at the end of the access tunnel that would be too dangerous to pass through.

Pattinson said from a technical and a mining perspective, he had not seen a roof fall that was impassable.

‘‘Anything is possible, but it comes down to cost and where is the money going to come from,’’ he said. ‘‘Everything I have seen, and we’ve only seen one end of it, is coal, but that doesn’t mean it won’t have rock or stone amongst it. I don’t call it a rockfall any more – it’s a roof fall [and] ... the sides haven’t come in.’’

Pike River widow Anna Osborne said she would ‘‘dearly love’’ for the agency to go beyond the roof fall. ‘‘I really want my husband to be brought home with the other men that were lost. I do believe it can be done.’’

However, she had been told that full re-entry and recovery of the men’s bodies could cost between $60m and $100m.