Pike River denies ignoring safety concerns Sunday November 28, 2010 Source: ONE News
Peter Whittall strongly denies problems with gas and ventilation were ignored at Pike River Coal where 29 men died last week in an underground blast .
A former miner who now lives in Australia is reported in the weekend newspapers as saying some of the concerns were ignored but Whittall said daily management of gas levels at the "moderately gassy" mine was foremost in operational requirements.
Pike River's chief executive told Q+A this morning that the mine had a range of gas from virtually nothing on the escarpment to the west to moderate levels on the eastern side of the lease, which was being mined. But he said the total quantity of gas per cubic metre, or per ton of coal, wasn't very high.
"I've worked in mines with up to twice as much methane as what Pike had."
He said because it was a thick seam with quite permeable coal in which the gas was given off freely, the daily hazard requirement was foremost.
Whittall reiterated that there was continuous monitoring for methane using a range of different systems, including hand-held monitors which officials carried wherever they went.
"When the mine managers do an inspection, or the underviewers on shift do their inspections, one of the things they always test for is methane."
Methane monitors are also on board the machinery that's cutting coal and Whittall said they cut power automatically if the methane levels go above what is a very low percentage and nowhere near the explosive range.
Parts of the mine are monitored continuously and electronically, with the data fed back to our control room on the surface 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Whittall said there were anticipated issues in the early stages because "when you first go into a coal seam you have to learn the operational parameters" such as how quickly the gas was given off and how quickly it could accumulate.
He said when initially drilling holes for exploration they did not need to direct the gas other than up the ventilation shaft, but with time they started to get more holes and started to gather the gas into pipelines and reticulate it through the mine and exhaust it up boreholes.
"You're working with Mother Nature, and every mine is different, and even different parts of the mine are different. I would absolutely say that from a process, from a management, from an intent and from a systems point of view, we never ignored any safety concerns."
Whittall would be surprised if there had been a slow build-up of methane and said the night before the explosion mining officials had been taking methane readings in the working faces. However he said in the hydro panel where they were working there is a goaf area - a large void where the roof falls in - and that by its nature will fill with gas as part of the mining process.
Whittall said they shotfire and blast every day and had fired a shot at 11am on the day of the blast.
""The explosives and detonators had all been booked out. Those that were used were accounted for, and those that weren't used were returned and accounted for...to my knowledge...there's no direct link between our shotfiring activities, and there was no shotfiring to our knowledge going on at the time of the incident."
Pike River was in the process of giving all miners transponders that would sit in the lamps of the helmets and give the general location of the miners as they pass certain detection points. But Whittall said the implementation was in transition and even if the miners had been wearing them people above ground would still only know that they were in a particular area of the mine.
After the 2006 Sago disaster it became compulsory in the US for transponders to be carried to provide information about where individuals were last known to be in the mine - even if don't survive blast. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4585482.stm
US experience
The Pike River mine disaster has striking similarities to one in Montcoal, West Virginia, in which 29 miners were killed and two survived after a methane explosion tore through a coal mine called Upper Big Branch.
Davitt McAteer, who was the assistant secretary of Labor responsible for mine safety across the US in the 1980s, is investigating the US explosion in April this year and said these sorts of accidents should not still be happening in developed countries.
McAteer told Q+A we now know how to mine safely without explosions and we know where the risks are and what precautions need to be taken.
He said there will always be methane in coal mining and ventilation is critical.
"You have to be able to remove methane from an underground coal mine."
Looking at CCTV footage of the first blast at Pike River, McAteer said it was a significant explosion with a large amount of force behind it.
He said with such a profound explosion it is unlikely anyone would have survived but not a 100% certainty.
McAteer said new technology needs to be applied, especially to improve communications systems. He said black boxes which can feed data out of the mine would allow better information if an explosion occurs.
"Currently we're only relying on blind luck to know what's going on."
McAteer said a mine in which men have lost their lives is "a very sad place" and the only thing you can do is "resolve to try to prevent it from occurring in another location".
He believes pressure has to be kept on companies to make sure they remain very diligent about taking precautions and to ensure prevention methods are put into place every single day.
"Our experience (the US) is if you don't put the requirements in the statute, and don't inspect to make certain it happens, they don"t happen."
Click here on how to donate to the Pike River Miners' Relief Fund Trust.
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