Mine site, scene of 29 deaths, being dismantled

The Pike River Mine's coal plant was dismantled this week.  The mine is expected to be handed...
The Pike River Mine's coal plant was dismantled this week. The mine is expected to be handed back to the Department of Conservation shortly. PHOTO: GREYMOUTH STAR
It cost $290million to develop but almost five years after it was ripped apart by a deadly explosion, bit by bit the Pike River Mine site has been dismantled as the Department of Conservation waits in the wings ready to resume ownership of the site.

The site is expected to be handed to Doc shortly.

Environment Minister Nick Smith is also expected to announce a memorial ''Great Walk'' dedicated to the 29 men who died in the explosion, about the time of the fifth anniversary of the disaster on November 19.

Although $290million was spent on mine development, just a month before the November 2010 disaster the Pike River Coal Company was facing potentially $50million in extra costs.

After the disaster, Solid Energy bought the mine in July 2012 for just $7.5million.

Solid Energy legal services manager Rob Paige said the dismantling of the coal processing plant was being done by the buyer. By late last month, the bathhouse was also in the process of being removed.

All but the top end of the roadside pipeline had also been removed. The main water pump station and pumps had gone, along with the dry goods store.

The nitrogen line and redundant gas-monitoring lines which ran to the top of the ventilation shaft were also in the process of being removed.

''The only other large structure still to be removed is the workshops-warehouse building at the top office complex,'' Mr Paige said.

Both levels of the top office complex would remain on site.

Most of the assets that had been cleared, or would be cleared, had been sold on an ''as is, where is'' basis, Mr Paige said.

The cost of clearing the site since November 2014, when Solid Energy decided not to re-enter the main drift, was put at $54,000, but that figure did not include Solid Energy's general operating costs of maintaining the site over the past three years. 

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