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Around 30 miners missing after Pike River mine blast in New Zealand

Last updated: 22:57 19 Nov 2010 AEDT, First published: 21:57 19 Nov 2010 AEDT

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Around thirty miners are believed to be missing after an explosion in an underground coal mine in New Zealand, which is operated by Pike River Coal (ASX:PRC, NZX:PRC).

The incident was reported at around 16:30 in New Zealand, around 3:30GMT.

The Pike River shares plunged around 14 percent on the Australian Securities Exchange before trading was halted.

New Zealand Oil & Gas (ASX:NZO, NZX:NZO) - an independent oil producer with a 250 million market cap - is Pike River’s largest shareholder with around 30 percent of the company.

The Pike River coal mine is located in the Paparoa mountain Range on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is around 50 kilometres away from the town of Greymouth.

Pike River claims that the produced coking coal has the lowest ash content in the world which means it is more efficient to process and it produces more energy.

Pike River has been developing the underground mine since 2006, concurrently it has been producing coal since it accessed the Brunner coal seam in early 2008.

The company is currently working to hit 'steady state' production of one million tonnes per year.

It expected to reach this milestone in the first half of 2011.

Fifty-five percent of Pike River’s coal production is contracted to two large Indian firms, Gujarat NRE and Saurashtra Fuels. Both of which are major shareholders in Pike River with 7.1 percent and 5.5 percent respectively.

Back in February, Pike River exported its first shipment of premium hard coking coal to India.

A further 22 percent of Pike River’s production is contracted to Japanese steel mills.

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