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21 November, 2010
The ICEM on Friday, 19 November, expressed hope that 29 miners were still alive inside the Pike River Coal Ltd. mine following a methane gas explosion on the west coast of the South Island, New Zealand. The miners, some of whom are members of ICEM affiliate Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), are believed to be trapped two kilometers inside a horizontal shaft of the Brunner coal seam in the Paparoa Range, near the town of Atarua.
“We are shocked and saddened by this terrible accident,” wrote ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda to EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little, who travelled to Greymouth, 50 kilometrers away, to offer direct support to family members. “We pray that a speedy rescue takes place and that the men successfully reach the surface alive and into the warmth of their loved ones,” said Warda.
This morning, 21 November, rescue efforts into the mine were stalled due to continued high levels of gas build-up. Tests conducted through a ventilation shaft yesterday revealed a large heat source 1,500 metres underground, indicating that a fire might be still raging.
EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little
The blast happened Friday afternoon, New Zealand time, following an electrical malfunction that shut the mine’s two large ventilation units. The subsequent explosion was so powerful that a fireball was seen coming from the ventilation shaft. An electrician ventured into the main shaft of the mine to check the outage at the same time the blast occurred. He continued, only to come upon an equipment operator who had been thrown from his machine.
The two manage to escape 108 metres up a ladder inside the ventilation shaft. But the 29 other miners, ages 17 to 62, were entrapped deeper inside. The 17-year-old was working his first shift inside the two-year-old mine. A telephone line was found to be working inside the mine, but there was no answer to numerous calls.
The Pike River mine is the largest underground coal mine in New Zealand and part of the mine is beneath Paparoa National Park. It employs 140 staff, 71 of whom are union members of the EPMU.
Pike River Coal Ltd. is a 14-year enterprise that mines premium hard coal for coking and ultimately steel-making. It is 31% owned by New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd., 7% by India’s Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd., and 8% by Singapore-based Saurashtra World Holdings Pvt. Ltd. The remainder is traded on New Zealand and Australian bourses.
The company made two major shipments this year – one in February 2010 of 20,000 tonnes, the other in September 2010 of 22,000 tonnes – to Port Bedi, India, for exclusive use by Gujarat. It exports also to China, Korea, and Brazil. The mine has reserves of 17.6 million tonnes.
In recent months, Pine River installed a hydro-monitoring system inside the mine that uses a water canon to blast coal off working faces. The company was also seeking funding for a second ABM20 continuous mine machine it hoped to install. Two years ago, start-up production was delayed after collapse of the newly-built ventilation shaft.
The company’s CEO, Peter Whittall, said air compressors were pumping fresh air down the ventilation shaft in hopes that trapped miners were in a nearby rescue area. Whittal has headed the company for only seven weeks and was previously served five years as Pike River’s general manager of mines. Before that, he managed various BHP Billiton Illawarra Coal operations in New South Wales, Australia.
Despite rescuers not able to enter the mine today, drilling of a 15-centimetre vertical hole did commence in order to get a camera and possibly supplies down.
The EPMU’s Little said in Greymouth, “Inevitably there are questions. We don't have an incident like this without there being reasons. There will be a time when we will need to get answers.”
The 29 trapped miners include 24 New Zealand nationals, two Australians, two UK citizens who are Scotsmen, and one South African. The equipment operator who found safety in the aftermath of the blast, 24-year-old Daniel Rockhouse, has a brother, Ben, who is one of the 29. The grandfather of the two passed away Friday evening.
New Zealand has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.