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Pike River mine workers have reached a seal near the end of the mine access tunnel, their latest milestone in the reclamation operation for 2020.
The government commissioned the Pike River Recovery Agency to recover the 2.3 km tunnel, or drift, in hopes of finding bodies and evidence of the causes of the explosions that killed 29 men in 2010.
Operations director Dinghy Pattinson said mine workers had reached the Rocsil plug, a vent plug near the end of the drift, at 8 p.m. Tuesday, 349 days after dismantling the 170 m barrier. .
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The plug, made of a concrete-like resin that can be sprayed and hardened to form a seal, was installed in early November 2019 to allow drift to recover outdoors.
“Now we have achieved another milestone: reaching the Rocsil plug at about 2,244 m by drift from the Pike River mine. This is where we have come this year, ”he said.
Supplied
Geotechnical engineer Rick Lee, mine worker Luke Taylor, COO Dinghy Pattinson, mine manager / health and safety manager Greg Duncan and mine maintenance planner Liam Collins at the Rocsil Plug on Wednesday.
The agency will close for Christmas on Wednesday and will restart on January 5.
The team will then complete final forensic work around the outlet area and install a ventilation control device, effectively a wall with airlock doors.
The steel and shotcrete structure had mechanical doors and an entrance and will be placed at a height of 2,224 m in front of the Rocsil plug.
Once the device is in place, mine workers will use a full-length breathing apparatus to pass through the airlock door and a 10m tunnel through the plug.
Stuff
The Pike River Mine Drift Journey.
They will then examine the last 8m to the roof drop, which blocks the operation of the mine, and will conduct forensic searches to assist in the police investigation.
The team will then return to complete a forensic search and recovery operation in an area called downhole in stone.
The bottom of the pit in stone is a 600m network of roads some 1,900m down the slope containing vital electrical equipment that could provide data to explain the cause of the explosions.
