The Spring Creek Mine near Greymouth, New Zealand has been shut down by safety inspectors. Solid Energy is to explain the mine safety failures before the Department of Labor decides to lift the ban on underground work in the mine.
The Department of Labor ordered the temporary halt of operations at the Spring Creak coal mining following three recent incidents. The prohibition notice is followed by a timeline to address the safety issues that have been outlined in the mine in New Zealand.
The three incidents included a diesel generator catching fire and injecting high concentration of carbon monoxide into the mine. The second incident was where the main fan tripped with no alter to the management for 90 minutes. The last incident was where an underground auxiliary fan tripped on two consecutive days, but did not, as it should have, stop the mining machine.
Gavin Taylor, the acting Chief Inspector of Mines said that the company Solid Energy has agreed to provide a full explanation of the incidents. He said that providing the information met their requirements, they will lift the prohibition notice.
Barry Bragg, the chief operating officer of Solid Energy said that the incidents occurred due to breakdowns in systems. He added that they made a mistake in terms of reporting that event to the inspectorate. He added that the mine manager had misinterpreted the regulations on what he was required to report. The CEO added that they went through that issue with both the inspector and mine management. He added that the company viewed these incidents very seriously.