12 months ago the Pike River families may have been quietly planning personal funerals for the 29 men that lay inside the mine. In 2013 Solid Energy, the mine’s receivers, had teamed up with the New Zealand Defence Force to begin the Pike re-entry project, which would see teams enter the mine’s 2.3km drift, in what would be the first stage in retrieving the bodies. Unfortunately, a lot can change in a year; by December those family members were instead discussing how best to honour the men who would never return from the mine they went to work in four years ago.

The families, much like the media, had been continually stone-walled by the Solid Energy for the best part of 2014. Any questions about the re-entry project were usually met with one answer “no decision has been made yet, and there is no timeline on when it will be”. The revolving door of CEO's at the embattled state owned company appeared to be a major factor in the delays; each new Chief Executive had to be brought up to speed with the complex ins and outs of any re-entry project before it could even be debated by the board. The plan to enter the mine's tunnel was continually postponed, originally scheduled for April, the need to brief a new CEO saw it pushed back till May, then June, before it fell off Solid Energy's radar altogether.

In hindsight, it's hard not to believe Solid Energy was just delaying the inevitable. It was late September before it emerged that the company had the all-clear to enter the mine for almost 12 months. A letter from Worksafe, dated October 2013, said the Pike River Re-Entry Assessment group identified no technical or operational matters that would prevent entry to the mine's drift. The outrage was prolonged and intense, Greymouth's mayor Tony Kokshorn demanded the company stop hiding behind excuses, apologise for wasting the community’s time and get on with the job. Winston Peters called the situation an appalling abuse of the victims and their families and the EPMU (Engineers, Printers and Manufacturers Union) demanded the government take control of the operation. In fact the only people who didn’t appear surprised by the letter were the families of the Pike River victims; Bernie Monk told media they were told to keep the information quiet, even though it hadn't seemed to advance the project at all. The families even hired a Queen's Counsel in a final attempt to get answers out of Solid Energy.

I'm slightly ashamed to say there was definitely some catharsis in seeing Solid Energy’s management squirm under the spotlight, as they were finally taken to task after months of skirting questions from the media. A day after the letter was published, Solid Energy CEO Dan Clifford fronted media for the first time on the subject of recovery. He said Worksafe’s assessment was one of many carried out by the company, and all had conflicting evaluations. He sighted risks involving the strata conditions, entrapment, and the solidarity exit from the mine should things go wrong. But Clifford also admitted that the board was worried about the liability the company’s directors would face if they allowed any workers to enter Pike; ironically it seemed the very changes to health and safety laws that the Pike River Mine disaster brought about was working to prevent a recovery operation.

Two months later Solid Energy’s intentions became clear. It was reported that a major piece of equipment used in the recovery had been moved overseas. A Solid Energy spokesman claimed the nitrogen machine was being returned to BOC gas, because it was urgently needed for another mine in New Caledonia. The spokesman said it was not an indication the company was abandoning plans to re-enter the mine, but hours later a meeting was called between Solid Energy and the Pike River families in Greymouth for the next day. 

There was a certain sense of foreboding in the town the night before the announcement. Reports that the Prime Minister would be attending the meeting alongside the Energy and Resources Minster and the acting Minister of Conservation gave some indication the news wasn’t good. Sitting down with Bernie Monk at his restaurant that night it was obvious he was preparing for a fight. Practically a household name for the most unfortunate of reasons, Monk was going through all the things he would say to John Key if the re-entry project was abandoned. A picture of his son Michael, who died in the explosion, sits near the bar in the restaurant, reminding everyone just what the Monk family is fighting for. Bernie put the conflicting assessments of the mine’s safety down to a difference in cultures. The English experts the families were using always retrieved their men after mine explosions he said, while the Australians usually left them there. And with Solid Energy CEO Dan Clifford an Australian with a history in the mining industry, Bernie was in no doubt as to which way the company was leaning.    

A media pack camped outside of the Ashley Hotel from sunrise on the 6^th of November. A small group of protestors joined us sometime later, holding signs that demanded John Key return the men to the community. Slowly but surely the families members started to trickle into the hotel too, some were already crying, others were hugging each other, and all were carrying pictures of the men they’d lost in the mine. Bernie Monk walked in with a box of files, full of the risk assessments the families’ experts had carried out, and information he was vowing to present to the Prime Minister as proof re-entry was possible. John Key arrived an hour late, one reporter quipped “he’s kept the families waiting four years; one hour is hardly going to make a difference”.

The tranquillity of the hotel’s foyer where media waited was most likely the opposite mood to the room where the families gathered only a couple of doors away. About an hour after they went in, family members slowly started to emerge; Anna Rockhouse, who lost her husband Milton in the explosion, was one of the first to leave the room and the look in her eyes and the tears down her face made it obvious what decision had been made.

“It’s a sad day for New Zealand,” she said. “It’s not where I want my husband to be. It’s unjust”.

Solid Energy had decided the risks in entering the mine were insurmountable.

Managing and maintaining gas and ventilation, entrapment and the sheer complexity of implementing over 600 risk control activities made it an impossible job, according to Board Chair Pip Dunphy. Solid Energy wasn’t willing to put more lives at risk. The company relinquished their mining permit, and the government pledged to turn the mine and surrounding area into a memorial to the men who lay inside.

Bernie Monk looked absolutely deflated as he sat alongside John Key and Pip Dunphy at a press conference after the announcement. When asked if he would continue to fight to get the men home he shrugged his shoulders. “I want to bring my boys home, but it’s my life, I have to get on with my life”. As a group, the families released a list of demands of the government, including unfettered access to the site at all times, and the promise there would be no future mining on the site out of respect.

2015 will see plans made for a memorial take shape. In line with everything else in the Pike River saga it’s unlikely to be a fast process. The families met with the acting minister of Conservation Nick Smith in early December for the first conversation about what should be done with the site, but for many the emotions are still too raw. And who can blame them, at the start of last year they were planning personal funerals for their loved ones, this year they know that will never be possible.