'50 million-odd tonnes of coal' still in Pike River mine: Peter Whittall

Thursday 25th November 2010 3 Comments

Pike River Coal representatives have allowed themselves to speculate on the commercial future of the mine for the first time since Friday last week, when the first of two massive explosions ripped through mine, leaving 29 miners presumed dead.

While reluctant to discuss the issue at this stage, Whittall pointed to examples of other mines he'd worked at where there had been fatal explosions in the past.

"But if the roadways are open there's still 50-odd million tonnes of coal there," Whittall told a media briefing. "The roadways are probably in good condition. No doubt there's been a lot of damage to a lot of equipment but at this stage that's just not what we're focusing on."

The Pike River board will meet tomorrow for a preliminary discussion about the way forward for the company and initial look at the "impairment of the asset," said chairman John Dow. "We do have to keep the lights on, and we do have to keep the company running," said chairman John Dow.

Further details were likely after tomorrow's board meeting.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

On 25 November 2010 at 6:13 pm Ron Reichs said:

Now could be the time to convert it into an open pit, to minimise the risk of similar disasters in the future. I've seen badly scarred land regenerate to very nice forest in 40 years.

On 26 November 2010 at 9:58 am Marg said:

Couldn't agree more. The economic value to NZ and the West Coast is hugh. The scaring of the landscape is only a fraction of the total land and is only temporary.

On 26 November 2010 at 12:27 pm John Ormsby said:

Maybe in this case only the Conservation Dept could let Pike river extract the coal as an open cast mine with strict conditions to keep damage to the environment minimal. However any future mine application to have very strict controls so this sort of thing is unlikely to happen again. If the mine companies can not meet these stricter controls then there mine application be declined irrespective of how big the mineral resource is.