Pike River operation has cost $8.5 million - Key
The cost of the operation to retrieve the remains of the 29 men who died in the Pike River mine explosions 12 weeks ago has reached $8.5 million, Prime Minister John Key says.
The cost of the operation to retrieve the remains of the 29 men who died in the Pike River mine explosions 12 weeks ago has reached $8.5 million, Prime Minister John Key says.
"My guess is that number is climbing but at no time has anyone from the police or anybody else come to me and said `this is a decision about money'," he said in an interview at a fund-raising dinner for the families of the dead men in Christchurch tonight.
"Paramount has been to get into the mine and try to recover what we can so those families can have closure."
Mr Key said that was the first assurance he wanted to give to the families.
"The issue has been about safety, getting into the mine where there is a volatile environment that's exploded four times, where we think there's the possibility of cave-in," he said on TV One's CloseUp programme.
"And when you look at the international record it is that rescuers die when they're undertaking rescues -- this is an issue of whether we lose more people at Pike River and none of us want to see that."
Mr Key said he "absolutely" realised the importance to the families of a proper goodbye.
"We have been doing everything we can for the last two and a bit months to try to make sure we could recover their loved ones," he said.
"No one should underestimate the challenges...it's a number of factors.
"It's the atmosphere in the mine...there's been four explosions there. Secondly those explosions have weakened the structure in the mine so that's causing real issues about whether it would collapse.
"And the third is whether there's a major blockage, which people anticipate there might be."
Mr Key said the mine was being handed over to receivers and they wanted to get into it as well.
"It is right that receivers obviously worry about financial matters but the receivers have enormous interest in gaining entry for a whole bunch of commercial reasons -- not least that they own the permit to the mine, they have insurance contracts, and they want eventually to sell the mine and the coal to another investor."
NZPA
Fri, 11 Feb 2011
Fri, 11 Feb 2011
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Pike River operation has cost $8.5 million - Key
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