Pike River re-entry options confirmed
Minister Andrew Little has signed off the Pike River Recovery Agency’s Concept Plan outlining three re-entry options.
One of the options would include building a new two-metre by two-metre tunnel, about 200 metres long, to the Pit Bottom in Stone area.
The remaining two options include drilling a large diameter borehole and re-entering the main drift as it is with no secondary exit.
The Agency will continue to develop the three proposals.
‘‘The expert advice we’ve received shows a safe manned reentry and recovery of the mine drift is technically feasible and the risks of harm can be managed and minimised,’’
Agency chief executive Dave Gawn said.
‘‘We’ve started to develop a detailed plan, with full risk assessments, hazard management plans and costings, and aim to get that back to the Minister for further consideration by the end of October.’’
A procurement process has begun to find contractors to be involved in planning and risk analysis, as well as mine sealing and rehabilitation works when the project is completed. The families were told in June re-entry to the Pike River mine drift may take longer than expected.
Little told a parliamentary committee he expected reentry into the West Coast mine, where 29 men died after an explosion in 2010, to take longer than first thought. Re-entry could start at the end of 2018, but would be completed after March 2019 – the original deadline he had set for the Pike River Recovery Agency.