PRC Pike River Coal

[glennj]

At last you have said some thing half correct. After the fact evidence does indeed show the safety was neglected and that is where the mine inspectors should have closed the mine. That is what they exist for and if the mine inspectors did not exist in large enough numbers then the govt is finally at fault.

Surely the prime fault lies with PRC & that is how the HS& E act sees it. Blaming the mine inspectors is akin to blaming the police for crime because they don't stop it!

[Hoop]

Balance, just say for instance a young (or older) miner decided to sneak a ciggie. Who is at fault then?
No disrespect to the dead intended and I don't for a moment think this happened. But we will never really know what the story was or who was at fault. Tragedy is just that, tragedy. Sometimes you cannot or should not apportion blame. It helps no one.

Maybe a mobile phone....or a battery powered watch

[neopoleII]

maybe....
the hi tech loading / digging machines with the huge buckets in front with tungsten teeth that do all the grunt work in the mine ........ and the fact that the progress of the making of the mine shaft was hampered because of the "extremely" hard rock they had to get through to get to the first coal could be an issue here......... very hard steel scrapes against very hard rock........ with a 1000 horsepower mining tractor unit pushing it, would in my opinion equal lots of sparks if the bucket scraped a wall.
could just be a simple accident.
obviously machinery shouldnt be running if gas levels are high..... but then... most coal mines a wet soggy places..... pike happens to be a very different beast.
i think this mine was something beyond the capacity of current mining knowledge, ....... so many new techniques and planning designs what with mining "uphill" into extremely hard rock,
and controls on optimal safety measures.
im sure that not only is this a global tragedy in the mining industry, it is also a prominent learning experience / case study for any future mining project that is looking at mining a seam in a situation like pike.
it seems no one was ready for this....... the board of NZO for finding the seam and dreaming for exploiting the prospect.....to the designers of the mine..... to the regulatory board that approved it .... to the inspectors that oversaw it..... and lastly the miners that worked in it.
this mine was ground breaking tech that no one had a full understanding of...... therefore a true tragedy that will help develop future mines in a safer way.

im writing this while im thinking about the aviation industry and the progress from the wright brothers to modern jet planes and traffic control ........ and how they learn the hard way via disasters.

[brucey09]

maybe....
the hi tech loading / digging machines with the huge buckets in front with tungsten teeth that do all the grunt work in the mine ........ and the fact that the progress of the making of the mine shaft was hampered because of the "extremely" hard rock they had to get through to get to the first coal could be an issue here......... very hard steel scrapes against very hard rock........ with a 1000 horsepower mining tractor unit pushing it, would in my opinion equal lots of sparks if the bucket scraped a wall.
could just be a simple accident.
obviously machinery shouldnt be running if gas levels are high..... but then... most coal mines a wet soggy places..... pike happens to be a very different beast.
i think this mine was something beyond the capacity of current mining knowledge, ....... so many new techniques and planning designs what with mining "uphill" into extremely hard rock,
and controls on optimal safety measures.
im sure that not only is this a global tragedy in the mining industry, it is also a prominent learning experience / case study for any future mining project that is looking at mining a seam in a situation like pike.
it seems no one was ready for this....... the board of NZO for finding the seam and dreaming for exploiting the prospect.....to the designers of the mine..... to the regulatory board that approved it .... to the inspectors that oversaw it..... and lastly the miners that worked in it.
this mine was ground breaking tech that no one had a full understanding of...... therefore a true tragedy that will help develop future mines in a safer way.

im writing this while im thinking about the aviation industry and the progress from the wright brothers to modern jet planes and traffic control ........ and how they learn the hard way via disasters.

Snr. Neopole
The mine was maintain this time not getting the coal.

[Balance]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/new...-would-deviate

So Peter Whittall decided to play hero and inflated hopes of the dead miners' families.

So typical of the BS which was Pike river board and management.

"which went "terribly wrong" after Whittall explained first that Mines Rescue men had been preparing to go into the mine, resulting in claps and cheers - Knowles stepped forward and broke the news that no-one could have survived.

"For five days, a cast of many - Pike employees, police, firemen, Mines Rescue men, visiting experts - had been privy to information that disclosed the likely death of the men, but the families of the 29 had not been told," Macfie wrote. "Now in one terrible clumsy moment, all hope was extinguished."

[Balance]

Production over safety, profits over lives.

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/tragedy...died-ts-148754

"Nishioka was, by nature, courteous and polite. People who had known and worked with him for decades had never seen him raise his voice, or swear in frustration or anger. Slightly built and deferential, he may have felt somewhat apologetic about presenting the most senior people in the mine with such profound complaints. After all, he was effectively telling them their operation was poorly conceived, badly run and unsafe. In any event, his message was apparently not heard by either White or Whittall: both have denied he raised these concerns with them."

[Xerof]

There must be some interesting conversations at her family christmas dinner gatherings - her brother worked with the team that organised and promoted the IPO and rights issues

[winner69]

Maybe Paul didn't talk about work at Christmas dinners

Wonder if that team got a decent bonus

[Balance]

Local gossip says that two senior members of the management team have left since Christmas. Coincidence?

SENZ's Spring Creek mine, only a few kms from PRC, is supposed to be an 800,000 tonnes/year mine also using hydro techniques and in the same coal seam and general geological conditions. But they've always struggled to achieve that.

Personally I beleive that PRCL have come too far and invested too much to just walk away from it all. But there were rumours that they might put the mine onto a care and maintenence program, i.e. no mining activity = no production. But that means spending money without any immediate prospect of income.

Post 3284 in March 2009 - the warning signs were there.

Guess what was the reaction of some of the Pikers and Noggers?

[robbo24]

[Cunliffe] said his government would then seek to recover the money from the parent companies, shareholders and directors of Pike River Coal.

He's coming to get you...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...ke-River-compo