Media release

Staff withdrawn from Spring Creek Underground Mine as a safety precaution

14 July 2008

Solid Energy, the operator of Spring Creek Underground Mine near Greymouth, has withdrawn its mineworkers as a standard safety precaution, after monitoring detected the symptoms of spontaneous combustion occurring in an inaccessible part of the mine.

Simon Doig, Solid Energy’s General Manager of South Island Operations, says the Saturday (12 July) nightshift was brought out of the mine at about 8.30pm and no further shifts have been worked underground.  Continuous remote monitoring of the atmosphere within the mine will allow a decision to be made later in the week about resuming work, he says.

“This is a standard precaution to ensure the safety of our staff and contractors.  In the Greymouth coalfield, spontaneous combustion is a relatively common hazard and we have standard procedures which come into play in these situations,” he says.

The Department of Labour’s Inspector of Mines has been notified and the mineworkers are being kept informed. 

“We will continue monitoring from the surface and respond accordingly.  The trend of the results is positive and we are hopeful of being able to resume mining later in the week,” Mr Doig says.