Media Release

Strongman 2 Underground Mine closes - Replaced by mine at Spring Creek

11 August 2003

Strongman 2 Underground Mine, near Greymouth, will close on Friday, 15 August, ending 65 years of underground mining in the Nine Mile Valley by Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd and its predecessors.

The company is developing Spring Creek Underground Mine as the replacement for Strongman 2. Spring Creek is scheduled to reach its full coal production rate of 800,000 tonnes per annum from February 2004. All Strongman 2 staff are being progressively transferred to the new mine, which will employ around 100 people by the end of August.

Coal mining began at the original Strongman Mine in 1938. Together the two mines have produced around 8 million tonnes of coal and have employed upwards of 1000 people. Strongman coal has been burned in the grates of homes across much of the South Island and has been synonymous with the high quality coal produced by the company for the domestic market. In recent years Strongman coal has been exported for use by Asian steel and coke makers. It has been blended with Stockton coal and sold to Chile for power generation and industrial processing. In New Zealand Strongman coal has been blended with other coals and supplied to cement manufacturers, dairy companies, food processors, brewers and timber processors to fire furnaces, boilers and kilns.

State Coal Mines began prospecting in the Nine Mile Valley in 1930 to find a replacement for James Underground Mine at Rapahoe, identifying two seam, each more than 6 metres thick. The Government gave approval to develop the new mine in 1936. Over the next two years a new road was formed from the coastal highway up to the new mine entrance and a stone drive put through from the James Mine to the Nine Mile Valley to establish endless rope haulage between Rapahoe and the mine mouth.

Paddy Webb, Minister of Mines, officially opened the new mine on 31st October 1939, declaring it the Strongman Mine, in honour of Charles Strongman, the Superintendent of New Zealand State Coal Mines. The workforce reached 360 and output rose to 650 tonnes per day. Methane gas was encountered in all three seams worked. At 10.00 am on 19 January 1967 an explosion ripped through the Greens No. 2 section of the mine killing 19 men.

With the formation of State-owned Enterprise, Coalcorp, on 1 April 1987, the operations of State Coal had to be put on a more profitable footing. The Strongman workforce was drastically reduced and hydraulic mining, using a high-pressure monitor, introduced. This has proven to be the most significant development in underground mining technology in New Zealand. By the 1990s Strongman Mine was reaching the end of its economic life and a new mine - Strongman 2 - was developed further up the Nine Mile Valley.

Strongman 2 Underground Mine was officially opened by an Undersecretary to the Minister of State-owned Enterprises, Warren Kyd, on 26 July 1994. More than 3 million tonnes (mt) has been produced at Strongman 2 Mine since then. The company opened Strongman Opencast Mine in May 2002 to secure continuity of supply for customers during the transition between Strongman 2 and Spring Creek Underground Mines.

Solid Energy will mark the closure of Strongman 2 Underground Mine at 3 pm, on Saturday, 30 August by unveiling a plaque at the Strongman Memorial, State Highway 6, Nine Mile, near Greymouth. The company is inviting all past and current employees to attend the ceremony, followed by refreshments at the Runanga Workingmen's Club. Any former Strongman employee who would like to attend should contact Vickie Warren at Spring Creek Underground Mine on 03 762 7750. A short booklet is also being produced with assistance from the Greymouth Evening Star.

For further information contact:
Vicki Blyth,
Communications Director,
Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd,
ph 03 353 0100,
fax 03 353 0116