The Department of Labour says it stopped production at a West Coast mine run by the state-owned Solid Energy because of safety concerns raised by three incidents in the past two weeks.
Operations were halted on Monday at Spring Creek Mine, north of Greymouth, and will remain in place until the department is satisfied that systems for dealing with such incidents have improved.
Management Issues
Acting mines chief inspector Gavin Taylor says the three incidents were:
* a diesel generator catching fire, injecting high concentrations of carbon monoxide into the mine;
* one of the two main fans tripped with no alert to management for 90 minutes;
* an underground auxiliary fan tripped on two consecutive days, but did not, as it should have, stop the mining machine.
"The inspectors were very concerned that the issues had not been fully investigated, yet production had continued," Mr Taylor said.
Management Issues
The notice won't be lifted until Solid Energy explains the events, an investigation is carried out and management systems are changed to prevent any recurrence.
Solid Energy chief operating officer Barry Bragg says the incidents shouldn't have happened.
He said there were controls in place to ensure there's no risk associated with those incidents, they have been asked to review systems to ensure they don't occur again.
Mine safety has become a major issue after 29 men were killed in explosions in the Pike River mine in November 2010.
"We know expectations have been raised substantially," Mr Bragg told NZ Newswire.
"We fully support that and we are working through with the department to meet those expectations."
Last week the Broken Hills underground gold mine in the Coromandel Peninsula was closed after it failed to comply with mining safety regulations which require employers not to use oil-filled electrical equipment for arc suppression, cooling or insulation in mines. Management Issues
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