PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The New Zealand government has announced plans to re-enter the Pike River mine, eight years after an explosion claimed the lives of 29 miners.

Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry, Andrew Little, said this week that the Te Kāhui Whakamana Rua Tekau Mā Iwa - Pike River Recovery Agency, recommended course of action to enter the drift, using the existing access tunnel, was by far the safest option.

“The re-entry method I have approved is the simplest and safest plan. The process we’ve gone through to plan a safe, re-entry has been extensive and robust. Experts from around the world have spent months examining details of all the risks pertaining to each option.

“The planned method of re-entry will be made safe through the use of controls, in line with mining standards around the world. This is an extraordinarily complex undertaking and we have had the benefit of advice from some of the best in the world in their field,” Little said.

He noted that work to prepare the mine drift for re-entry was under way, and included venting methane from the mine, pumping nitrogen into the mine, and then filling the drift with fresh air.

Additional boreholes would have to be drilled and this would get under way immediately.

“The advice I have received indicates that it is likely to be around February before the re-entry proper gets under way, by breaching the 30 m seal.

“The people of New Zealand can rest assured that this re-entry plan is achievable.  It is now our intention to get this job done, and try and find out why those 29 men went to work on November 19, 2010, and never came home,” Little said.

The Pike River accident was New Zealand’s worst mining disaster in nearly a century and resulted from a series of methane explosions, which trapped the workers underground. Relief efforts proved futile, and the mine has remained closed.