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Events/Disaster · 2010

Pike River coal mine explosion

Disaster, 19 November 2010, New Zealand.

What happened

The first explosion at 3:45 pm on 19 November 2010 killed 29 men. The Royal Commission found the company's health and safety systems inadequate and criticised the Department of Labour. It made 16 principal recommendations.1,2

Why it matters

The Royal Commission recommended a new independent health and safety regulator.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. South Bulli Colliery gas outburst

    The regulator uses it as a case study of gas outbursts at the coalface.3,4

  2. Westray mine explosion

    The inquiry report is titled A Predictable Path to Disaster.5,6

  3. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape inscribed

    UNESCO World Heritage listing event.7

  4. Sago Mine disaster

    Sago Mine disaster. Wikidata records 12 deaths.8

  5. Upper Big Branch Mine disaster

    Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. Wikidata records 29 deaths.9

  6. Glencore completes merger with Xstrata

    The merger joined a large trading house with a large mining group.10,11

  7. Soma mine disaster

    Soma mine disaster. Wikidata records 301 deaths.12

  8. Amasra coal mine explosion, Turkey

    Wikidata records 42 deaths.13

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Where next

Events

An example ofUpper Big Branch mine explosionPike River killed 29 in November 2010. Upper Big Branch killed 29 that year too.14ExamplesWestray mine explosionWestray killed 26 in 1992, and Pike River killed 29 in 2010. Both had public inquiries.5

Sources

  1. Commission's Report, Volume One overview NZ Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy
  2. Pike River Mine (item Q11743331), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. 1991 South Bulli Colliery Outburst case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  4. Bulli (item Q4996904), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. The Westray Story: A Predictable Path to Disaster, executive summary Government of Nova Scotia
  6. Westray Mine (item Q3314812), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  8. Wikidata item Q7399333 (Sago Mine disaster)
  9. Wikidata item Q7898494 (Upper Big Branch Mine disaster)
  10. Glencore timeline
  11. Baar (item Q64087), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  12. Wikidata item Q16869476 (Soma mine disaster)
  13. Wikidata item Q114670156 (Amasra mine explosion)
  14. Upper Big Branch Mine-South fatal accident report, Executive Summary US Mine Safety and Health Administration

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: The Big Hole by Rudolph Botha, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Mijnramp Bois du Caizier, Marcinelle, België. Schacht, Rossem, Wim van / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).