The bereaved families of the 29 miners killed in New Zealand’s 2010 Pike River disaster are considering legal action over a decision to permanently seal the mine.
The facility’s new owners Solid Energy have been given permission to instal the seal that would entomb the miners’ remains for ever.
The families – including those of Fife miner Malcolm Campbell, 25, and colleague Peter Rodger, 40, formerly of Perth – last week protested by staging an around the clock sit-in outside the mine and blocked the access road.
However, when they were faced with the threat of arrest, the protest dispersed.
The New Zealand Government has ruled out any future recovery efforts, citing information from Solid Energy that methane levels in the drift are too high.
But, despite their stance, former New Zealand chief mines inspector Tony Forster stated in an email tabled in Parliament that the Pike River Mine drift re-entry remained feasible and he was personally prepared to go in.
A lawyer for the families, Nigel Hampton QC, filed an application with WorkSafe to review the closure plans last week. He insists work on the permanent seal should have halted until the review was completed.
He said: “WorkSafe acknowledged the application for review and said it would go through the usual processes.
“But, at the same time, [it] wrote to Solid Energy saying: ‘This is what is happening, but you can go ahead and seal this mine of your own volition if you wish’, and in fact encouraged Solid Energy to continue on with their actions.”
Solid Energy responded by issuing a strongly-worded statement, criticising “inaccurate and misleading statements in the media”, which had given the families “false hope”.
It continued: “It is disingenuous and, frankly, deeply disappointing for commentators who lack the full information base on which this decision was made – and who bear no legal responsibility for the outcomes of the re-entry project – to once again raise hopes regarding re-entry.”