What I heard was that the coal in the mine was still smouldering and could do so for sometime, depending on how much oxygen was getting in to the mine.
If no oxygen was getting in Solid Energy thought 8 years was the time frame before they could open up the mine and let oxygen in without risk of explosion.
But having said that there is a mine in the US which has been smoldering for 50 years as they can't seal it off.

They missed the opportunity of rescue or recovery in those five days before the gas levels from the smouldering reached a level to cause the second explosion.

That's the first mention of the mine smouldering, when did that come up?

I've heard it a few times and Don Elder certainly said so in the NatRad interview last week.

Arander, what they say now and what they'll do are again lies. They will try an open cast this coal because there is billions of dollars worth in that seam. They can't do it now as open cast is a dirty word in mining and in itself a disgusting mess. They will wait until when they know the countries desperate for coal to export and this is a real special type of coal. Deals will have been done behind closed doors i believe. Time will tell.

Understand John Key wants a meeting with miners families,is he brave or stupid???
Too long to wait to make this an election issue not til 2014,so the time is now...lots on talk backs about him not keeping his word.
Was Blackball opencast?

Earthy, sadly, that's far too often true these days. Far too many deals being done behind our backs. It may not be so this time - who knows? As you say, time will tell.

I understood Pike Rivers coal seams are too deep to be mined open-cast? Is that not so?

Jan42, Key is neither brave or stupid. He's just a gambler; he's gambling that he'll get credit for fronting up and a couple of nice photos ops. Comfort, explanations, apologies perhaps for the bereaved families. Or not. it's just a toss of the coin. Win some - lose some. He doesn't really have anything much to lose at this point. His rep is already tarnished over this. He's not enjoying the job. 'It's going to be a long 2 and a half years,' he said. He's right - it is.

And, since he'll be gone back to Hawaii in 2014 and, since we and our media have the concentration spans of goldfish, we'll all have forgotten about his broken promises.

The coal is deep but the amount of it is like huge both in amount and profit. Were the mine is situated away from public viewing, it's ideal to open cast. Yes its deep and in a long seam {so we are told} but the cost of digging would prob be the way to get it out. The infrastructures all in place, the rail head etc, huge power grid. Who knows??? But they will try an do something while "the key" is still around. Because I can't see any other party being a party to this mess. Solid Energy got this mine so so cheap in comparison to the profit to be made. They will be itching to get into the money load.

They got it cheap because no one else wanted it and the receivers went back to them after everyone including Solid Energy had pulled out and asked for an offer.