Police are working with the Crown Solicitor as they consider whether to lay charges over the 2010 Pike River mine disaster. 

On the 14th anniversary of the tragedy, which killed 29 men, police confirmed in a statement that a decision on whether a prosecution would go ahead won’t be made until the first half of next year. 

A criminal probe was reopened in 2018 after the Government’s decision to recover the mine’s access tunnel. 

Police and mining experts then drilled holes deep into the underground coal mine on the West Coast of the South Island, searching for more clues – and ended up finding more human remains in the mine. 

The police investigation has previously been described as “complex” and “unique”, although by the middle of last year, officers said a decision would be made by last Christmas. 

But in a statement today, police confirmed they were still working with the Crown Solicitor “regarding the evidence for Pike River”. 

“The matter is legally complex and at this point, police expect to have a decision around prosecution(s) in the first half of next year,” police said. 

A tearful Anna Osborne with a photograph of her husband, Milton, who perished in the Pike River mine tragedy, after the signing of the cross-party deal to re-enter the mine, at Parliament in 2017. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

The operating cost, from 2018 to September this year, excluding personnel costs for the police investigation, is $22,972,000. 

On November 19, 2010, at 3.44pm, an explosion ripped through the Pike River underground coal mine, followed by subsequent explosions. Two men made it out alive, but another 29 were unaccounted for. 

The Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy found the “immediate cause of the first explosion was the ignition of a substantial volume of methane gas”, but could only speculate on what might have triggered ignition. 

“The mine was new and the owner, Pike River Coal Ltd (Pike), had not completed the systems and infrastructure necessary to safely produce coal. Its health and safety systems were inadequate,” the commission’s report said. 

WorkSafe laid charges against former Pike River boss Peter Whittall in 2013, but the case was dropped after a $3.4 million settlement was paid – a deal the Supreme Court later said was unlawful. 

The money was split between the two survivors and the families of the 29 missing, a total of $110,000 for each man who had been down the mine that day. 

Australian company VLI Drilling, which employed three of the men who died, also pleaded guilty to health and safety charges and was fined $46,800. 

The Pike River Recovery Agency (PRRA) completed its $50m re-entry of the mine’s access tunnel to try to recover remains and find any forensic clues in 2021. 

It had been due to permanently seal the mine while police were partway through their borehole investigations. 

But some Pike River families who lost loved ones and had fought for years to get authorities to try to find their bodies, launched legal action to try to stop it from happening. 

Some of the families hope a criminal prosecution is still possible.