A pit disaster that claimed 29 lives threatens the nation’s entire underground coal industry, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key warned yesterday, as another explosion rocked the gas-choked colliery.
The latest blast ripped through the Pike River pit just before 2pm, underscoring the dangers inherent in underground coal mining, which has boomed in New Zealand in recent years on surging demand from Asia.
Speaking before the explosion, the fourth at Pike River since an initial Nov. 19 blast trapped 29 miners, Key said the industry’s future was in the balance while the risk of similar tragedies remained.
Announcing he wanted a powerful Royal Commission to investigate the disaster, Key told TVNZ: “In the end, the future of Pike River and actually underground coal mining in New Zealand rests on this. We can’t put people into mines that are dangerous.”
Police said there were no injuries in the latest explosion at the mine, which remains flooded with methane preventing the recovery of entombed bodies.
New Zealand has five underground coal mines, according to government resource body Crown Minerals, producing about 20 percent of the country’s output. Key estimated some 450 people were directly involved in the industry.
However, the wealth generated by the sector as Chinese and Indian steelmakers clamor for New Zealand’s high-quality coking coal means it is a major economic driver in many small mining communities.
Key said he would ask parliament today to set up a Royal Commission to probe the explosion at the colliery.
He said the Royal Commission — the most powerful investigation available under New Zealand law — would be headed by a judge and have wide-ranging terms of reference.
Pike River Coal estimates there are still 50 million tonnes of coking coal underground at the mine, a resource currently worth about US$200 a tonne after being as high as US$300 a tonne before the global downturn.
Key said Pike River was unlikely to reopen until the Royal Commission determined the reasons behind the fatal methane build up, a process that could take more than a year.
However, he added there was no need to immediately shut down the country’s other underground mines, pointing out the nearby Spring Creek colliery had been operating for a decade without a major incident.
A crowd of 73,500 at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium paid tribute to the miners with a minute’s silence before New Zealand’s rugby union Test win against Wales on Saturday. The All Blacks wore white armbands over their shirts.
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