The Pike River Recovery Agency, is a stand-alone New Zealand Government department. Its stated aim is to work with families who lost loved ones during the 2010 Pike River Mine disaster to plan for decisions on the manned re-entry of the drift of the Pike River Mine. The Agency's purpose is to gather evidence on the Pike River Mine Disaster with the goals of preventing future mining tragedies, giving the Pike River families closure, and if possible recovering the bodies of the deceased miners.
History
Minister for Pike River Re-Entry Andrew Little announced the formation of the agency on 20 November 2017, with its formal establishment due to take place on 31 January 2018. The Pike River Recovery Agency will be an establishment unit within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. The Agency will also be headed by a Chief Executive recruited by the State Services Commission. The Agency plans to have formulated a plan for mine re-entry by the end of March 2018. The Government has allocated NZ$23 million to funding the agency's operations and mine re-entry over a three-year period. The Pike River Recovery Agency will also take over ownership of Pike River mine from Solid Energy, which is scheduled to enter into liquidation in mid-March 2018. After the planned re-entry, ownership of Pike River will return to the Department of Conservation, including a planned Pike29 Memorial Track, as part of Paparoa National Park. On 31 January 2018, the Pike River Recovery Agency formally came into existence with its headquarters being based in Greymouth on the West Coast. On 19 April, Little entered the Pike River Mine portal with Pike Family representatives Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse to demonstrate that a safe re-entry was possible. He promised that the Coalition Government would re-enter the drift to recover evidence and the remains of loved ones. On 21 May 2019, the Pike River Recovery Agency's chief operating officer Dinghy Pattinson led a recovery team which breached the concrete seal to the mine drift. The occasion was marked by family members releasing 29 yellow balloons and calling out the names of those who died. Re-entry and recovery operations are expected to take several months and will consist of three phases. The first team of miners will assess hazards and establish supporting infrastructure. A second forensically-focussed mining team will be tasked with collecting evidential material. A third team will provide mining services including gas monitoring, communications lines and ventilation bags. Once completed, the site is expected to be refurbished and returned to the Department of Conservation by June 2020. On 10 June 2020, Minister for Pike Mine Re-entry Little announced that it was "impractical" to expect the remains of the fallen miners to be recovered due to the dangerous conditions. Instead, recovery efforts would focus on gathering evidence for the homicide case. The cost of the recovery project had risen from NZ$23 million to NZ$35 million, with concerns that the figure could reach NZ$50 million.
