New Zealand miners missing after explosion

[jannyk]

Source: BBC

As many as 30 workers are missing after an explosion at a New Zealand coal mine, local media say. The blast reportedly hit the Pike River Coal mine, some 50km (31 miles) northeast of Greymouth on the country's South Island.

Police had received reports of a "big explosion" at the mine, Greymouth mayor Tony Kokshoorn told Radio New Zealand. Emergency services are said to be treating the situation as a major incident. "We're just keeping our fingers crossed but it's not good," said Mr Kokshoorn.

He said between 25 and 30 miners remained unaccounted for.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11793926

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A 'Big Explosion' is very different to the situation in Chile. Sadly, this won't end that well...

Update - they were conducting a 'safety tour' at time of explosion!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10688716

"Mine blast leaves one dead, many missing"

...A mix of miners and management, who were on a safety tour of the mine when the blast occurred, are among those missing. Newstalk ZB are reporting a body has been taken from the mine to the Greymouth DHB. Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee said the blast happened at 3.45pm and the last contact with any of the miners was lost at 4.15pm.

...Herald video journalist Simon Baker, who has been in the mine, says it does have an evacuation chute where miners can escape if the main entrance to the mine tunnel is blocked. "They've built a small channel, which is just a ladder to the top of the mountain," said Mr Baker. Mr Brownlee confirmed the existence of the exit tunnels but didn't know if they could be accessed by the miners. He said he would be going to the mine tonight.

[Violet_Crumble]

1. Pike River expected methane gas issues

Methane gas has long been identified as a potential problem for the Pike River Coal mine, as rescuers scramble to find up to 27 missing miners following the explosion at the West Coast this afternoon.

Mines are notoriously susceptible to explosions.

The cause of today's blast has not yet been identified, but Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall - who oversaw much of the development of the company's mine 46km northeast of Greymouth - started the week promoting the mine's prospects to shareholders who went to the company's annual meeting at the mine site.

Over the past year workers had to push their underground roadways through a zone of rock and out into the coal seam: The company spent $4m hiring extra engineers and miners, and bringing in a big reconditioned Sandvik ABM20 single-pass continuous mining machine.

The company had recently completed commissioning the first of its two main underground fans that had increased ventilation by around 30%.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/pike-river-expected-problems-methane-gas-3904433

[nmvisitor]

2. Power outage might have contributed

I read that a power outage had been reported at the mine, 5 or 6 hours prior to the blast. That's really bad news for a mine already flagged as problematic for methane, and it could have contributed to the disaster.

Power goes out and ventilation systems either stop, or operate at reduced capacity on emergency power supplies. Methane builds up. Something makes a spark, perhaps when the power comes back on.