New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has told The Australian newspaper there will be changes in New Zealand mine safety regulations. Key made the comments in an interview when asked about Pike River, the West Coast mine where a series of explosions left 29 men dead last November.
Over the weekend the same paper quoted a mining safety specialist who quit Pike River over concerns it was too dangerous as saying the mine lacked critical equipment required in Australian mines, which could have avoided the enormous methane explosion.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry is to investigate the disaster at the West Coast mine, looking at whose responsibility it was, whether it could have been avoided and if there were systemic problems with implications for other underground mines. While the Government has remained quiet on the issue of safety at Pike River, saying any comment would follow the inquiry, Mr Key acknowledged to The Australian serious deficiencies in New Zealand mine safety regulations.
