Pike re-entry ‘will be done’

‘‘Nothing is impossible’’ when it comes to re-entering the West Coast mine where 29 men died, experts say.

Family representatives and about 31 technical experts have met in Greymouth this week to come up with a plan for a safe manned entry of the Pike River mine drift.

The plan will include ventilating the entire mine and potentially building a second means of escape for recovery specialists.

At a press conference yesterday, Pike River Recovery Agency chief executive Dave Gawn said he was confident the mine drift could be re-entered safely.

Twenty-nine men died when the coal mine exploded on November 19, 2010. Two survivors made it out. The mine was later deemed too dangerous to reenter by the National Government and Solid Energy, which bought the mine after the disaster.

The technical experts are working on a plan to reenter the 2.3-kilometre access tunnel (or drift) to recover bodies and gather any evidence to find out how the explosion happened.

Gawn said he would present the plan to Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little in June. The agency was also looking for contractors to carry out the final plan and re-entry.

‘‘The key to any of this plan we’ve got is to ensure those risks are managed so that no-one gets hurt and it meets health and safety legislation,’’ he said.

The previous Government had said the mine could not be re-entered due to health and safety legislation brought in as a result of the Pike River disaster.

The agency has a budget of $23 million over three years, which Gawn said ‘‘should be sufficient’’.

Agency chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson said the plan included ventilating the mine drift and the 5.5km of tunnels in the main mine workings to create a fresh air environment. It is currently in an inert state with near saturation of methane and is sealed 170m up the drift.