Promise to retrieve bodies renewed as mine sale confirmed

‘‘The Government’s expectations on body recovery haven’t changed. Solid Energy will be expected to take all reasonable steps to recover the remains of the men in the Pike River mine.’’

The purchase of Pike River by Solid Energy was confirmed last night amid promises of renewed efforts to recover the bodies of the 29 men entombed in the West Coast coalmine.

Pike receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers and the state-owned enterprise last night met in Greymouth with families of those killed when the mine exploded in November 2010.

Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder had previously assured families they would be the first to be told about any new announcements.

Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley last night welcomed the conditional sale, saying the Government and Solid Energy had an agreement to recover the bodies.

‘‘The sale, conditional on a number of mostly procedural matters including transfer of the mining permit, is a positive step towards determining the future of resource development at the mine.

‘‘The Government’s expectations on body recovery haven’t changed. Solid Energy will be expected to take all reasonable steps to recover the remains of the men in the Pike River mine in conjunction with any commercial mining at Pike River in future, provided such an operation is safe, technically feasible and financially credible.’’

The Government was committed to recovery if there was no further risk to human life, Mr Heatley said.

Previously, experts had suggested the recovery could take three years or more.

Explosion risks prevented Mines Rescue Service from entering the mine after the November 19 blast. The mine exploded three more times before it was sealed.

Last July, Mines Rescue staff erected a temporary seal 170 metres from the mine’s entrance and walked 300m into the mine – the furthest they have been allowed to date. At the time, they pinned a handwritten letter in its depths to say they had made a start in coming to get their colleagues.

The receivers’ initial plan had been to install a remote seal in front of the internal rockfall, and put a new bore in to pump expanding concrete-like Roscil to create the seal.

That plan was halted in March when the Labour Department’s acting chief mines inspector Gavin Taylor demanded more risk assessments of the plan before he would allow it to proceed. Of the 29 dead men, 24 were from New Zealand, mostly the West Coast, and one from Southland.

Two were Scottish, two were Australian and one South African.