The former chief executive of the Pike River mine has pleaded not guilty to all 12 charges he faced in relation to explosions at Pike River mine.
International mine safety experts have today met families of Pike River victims to start formulating a new plan to enter the collapsed mine and recover the 29 bodies.
They choked back tears as Attorney-general Christopher Finlayson told them what they already knew: that their loved ones should never have died in the Pike River mine tragedy.
Prime Minister John Key has confirmed the Royal Commission investigation into the Pike River tragedy will be delivered to Government tomorrow.
Pike River contractor Valley Longwall will be sentenced today for failing to ensure the safety of workers who died in explosions at the mine.
An Australian company charged the Pike River Coal receivers about $170,000 for its robot, which is still stuck down the mine two years after the fatal explosions.
The Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry will not be reopened for more evidence to be heard and there will be no delay in the commission's report being published, a court has ruled.
A judge has told the lawyer for Pike River Mine directors he may have lost his chance to question three witnesses who gave evidence to the Royal Commission into the Pike River Mine tragedy after the public hearings came to an end.
New Zealand's Pike River Royal Commission has agreed to look at the new evidence of three former Pike River Coal mine workers, after a request from Peter Whittall's lawyer.
Closure is what the families of the 29 miners who died in the Pike River mine on the West Coast on November 19, 2010, have long sought, and closure is what they got last week - although not in the manner, nor with the outcome, they might have desired.
Families of the Pike River dead are vowing to blockade the West Coast mine if coal extraction starts before the bodies of their loved ones are recovered.
The bodies of the men killed in the Pike River Coal Mine disaster may not be recovered for years, if at all.
A spokesman for the families of the Pike River Mine disaster victims says it's "great'' the Government is taking mine safety seriously by suspending operations at another West Coast mine.
Former Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall was "absolutely devastated'' his one-time colleague Doug White had labelled him a dodgy git and megalomaniac at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Pike River mining disaster, his lawyer says.
Former Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall was a "dodgy git'' and a "megalomaniac'' who blamed others for his mistakes, the Royal Commission of Inquiry was told today.
Why the body of a coalminer showed no sign of damage from the massive explosion that tore through the Pike River Mine was one of two enduring puzzles scrutinised at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the disaster today.
The Pike River Mine relied on a gas sensor that was in a "sad state of repair'', the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the disaster heard today.
The Pike River Mine explosion was probably caused by a rockfall that sent explosive gases rushing through the mine, just as the water pumps were turned back on, causing electrical equipment to spark.
Report dates for the inquiries into the Pike River mine tragedy and the Christchurch earthquake building failures have been extended.
Families of Pike River victims frustrated at the lack of progress in returning the fallen miners' bodies are designing "aggressive'' action plans to speed up the recovery process.