Spring Creek Mine resuming general underground operations

7 March 2012

Spring Creek Mine resuming general underground operations

Solid Energy has begun a staged resumption of general underground operations at its Spring Creek Mine near Greymouth.

On 20 February, following three safety incidents, the Department of Labour’s Mines Inspectorate issued Spring Creek with a Prohibition Notice. That notice was lifted on 23 February. Solid Energy kept all but essential underground operations on hold, however, while it completed its investigations into the incidents.

Solid Energy’s Chief Operating Officer, Barry Bragg, says that follow-up actions from the investigations are now under way and the company has given the go-ahead for the mine to begin the return to full underground operations.

“Along with the mine management team, I’ve been meeting all of the mine staff to discuss our health and safety expectations and the changes we are proposing at the mine to meet those expectations,” Mr Bragg says. “A partial resumption of underground mining operations has begun today with on-the-job training in the changes to our work procedures and checking for compliance with those procedures.

“We will resume full production once we are satisfied the changes are effective. That is likely to be towards the end of this month (March),” he says. “We are also mobilising additional health and safety resources and engineering capability to Spring Creek to help with the changes and the large development programme which is the mine’s operational focus at present.

“As part of those changes, Craig Smith (Solid Energy’s General Manager Underground Operations) has taken over as Acting General Manager Spring Creek Operations, while Mine Manager, Greg Duncan, has been seconded to focus on improving our systems and bedding in some of the changes.”

For the teams at Spring Creek the main operational focus is on driving roadways and installing infrastructure to enable a new resource area to be mined. This development work is expected to take several months to complete. The company expects that when full-scale extraction resumes later in 2012, this new resource block will safely deliver about 2.2 million tonnes of high-value coal over three years.

ENDS

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