McGowan was killed March 8 by an inrush of water after miners blasted into the flooded shaft of an adjacent abandoned mine. Haddow was working with him but survived by clinging to a roof bolt.

While this investigation has been going on, another miner, Bernard Green, 47, was killed in a roof collapse September 8 at the nearby Roa mine. Green was working with nine other miners when he noticed the rock starting to fall. He yelled to his co-workers to run but the rock fell on him. Green had 30 years of mining experience.

Green and McGowan lived in the adjacent mining communities of Runanga and Rapahoe, on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

The charges laid by the Department of Labor include failing to keep an operations record, failing to ensure a mining plan was in place, failing to ensure escape routes existed in the event of an inrush of water, and failing to ensure employees drilled ahead to avoid breaking into old workings. A third person, whose name has not been made public, also faces charges.

McGowan’s widow, Valma, said in an October 28 phone interview that she was not satisfied with the charges. “Shane Bocock was brand-new to mining,” she said. “He bought the mine the previous year and had never been involved in mining before. The mines inspector failed to check that the mine was operating safely despite concerns raised by the geologist. That is why I demanded that the mines inspector be stood down.” The mines inspector works for the Department of Labor.

“I don’t know if Robert’s life would have been saved,” she added, “but I have never heard of a death where there was so many contributing factors, including the lax attitude of the labor department.”

The Greymouth police announced on September 13 that they were looking into the possibility of manslaughter charges in relation to Robert’s death. “We are looking at the culpability of all the people that are involved,” they said.

The fatal incident at Black Reef occurred after the miners blasted through to old mine workings. The Roa coal mine, where Green was killed, is a century-old mine that has been reopened by a private company. Reworking old mines is part of the broader expansion of coal mining in the area.

On October 13 plans were announced to expand the state-run Solid Energy mine at Spring Creek and develop a new area, including the hiring of more workers.

Another mine, Pike River Coal, is under development by New Zealand Oil and Gas. The first coal is due out of the mine in November and production is projected build up to 1 million tons a year by 2008.

“Pike River hopes that record worldwide steel production, driven by China and India in particular, will keep pressure on coking coal prices,” the New Zealand Herald reported. The consequence so far of this profit-driven push to accelerate the extraction of coal has been two mine deaths in New Zealand this year, the first since 1998.  
 
 
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