North Goonyella Fire MRE 6th September 2018

MRE – North Goonyella – 06.09.2018.pdf

Today, 6 August 2018 1, Inspector Les Marlborough, accompanied by Inspector Paul Brown attended a meeting at North Goonyella Mine to discuss the status of the high CO in 9N TG, I was met by UMM Mr Marek Romanski and SSE Mr John Anger.

Meeting

Attending the meeting was,’

Mr John Anger, SSE;

Mr Marek Romanski, Underground Mine Manager;

Mr Gavin Shields, Safety Manager;

Mr Chris Markowski, Tech Services Manager

Mr Robin Hall, Continuous Improvement Manager;

Mr Charles Lilly, Peabody Senior Director of Engineering;

Mr Mike Carter, SSE Millennium Mine; Mr Lee Earnshaw, Development Coordinator.

Meeting

Activities during the previous 24 hours;o Continued Floxal injection and monitoring; o UMM, Shift Supervisor and 2 ERZ Controllers completed risk assessment and proceeded underground at 1 :30 PM to complete work to introduce Floxal gas into LW9 North TG. This work consisted of connecting the 4″ inertisation line through the TG seal, fitting and closing valves to 6″ pipes through the seal and bagging off the seal. They then went to MGIO South 2 CT B hdg and emptied the water traps on the methane drainage riser. They returned to surface at 4:00 PM;

• The third Floxal arrived at 2:00 PM. This was set up and operational at 01 At this time the methane was turned off borehole 2470 and the Floxal introduced to replace the methane;
• Floxal gas introduced to 9 North TG Seal at 3:50 PM.

07/09/2018                                                                            Mine Record Entry                 Page 1 of 2

Current status at 08:00;-

Gas levels showing results as expected. Tube 24 at the TG goaf edge showed the influence of the Floxal injection at the TG seal. The CO, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Ethylene dropping significantly. The TG Chute Road, Tube 29 was showing Methane at 4.22%. This was expected as the purging from the end of the LW and the injection of methane into the goaf at borehole 2470 would cause the methane to report to the TG Chute Road. CO at the TG Chute Road had risen to 151 ppm. Again, as expected.

The Mine supplied a copy of the gas results spreadsheet for tube 24 and tube 28 and 29.

The plan for the next 24 hours

• A risk assessment was to be conducted for the controlled re-entry to the Mine. ISHR Mr Stephen Woods had been invited to participate and would do so. The staged re-entry would commence with inspecting the Mine and conducting weekly stats on gas monitors and electrical system, as well as work necessary to ensure the safety of the Mine. Other details of planned work was included in the staged re-entry plan. I recommended that the Mine consider triggers that would be used during the re-entry process such that, should conditions worsen in the LW9 North, then the Mine would reassess and possibly withdraw people if deemed necessary; o A large Floxal unit from NSW was expected to arrive on Friday afternoon. I suggested that the best location to utilise this unit was to inject the Floxal gas at hole 1991. This would assist in purging the entire TG corner of the goaf area and would be more likely to treat the area where the heating was believed to be located. The Mine agreed that this would be the preferred location for this unit. It was expected to be commissioned and running Saturday morning;
• A risk assessment was to be conducted for drilling a hole from the surface into the area where the Heating was thought to be located. This could then be used to inject Floxal gas and possibly to utilise this in conjunction with foam to assist in the treating of the heating. It would take 3 to 4 days to drill the hole once drilling commenced(400 m depth). I recommended that the Mine considered having an ERZ Controller, or another person competent to monitor for gas, present at the drill site to monitor for gases when the drill was expected to hole into the goaf.
• Another Floxal unit was due to arrive on site Monday. This would allow the Mine to return one of the units back to Millennium Mine.

Inspector Brown suggested that the Mine consider controlling access to the Mine as the Mine was, in effect, in an emergency situation. The Mine agreed to this.

A discussion was held regarding the ongoing shield recovery. I recommended that the Mine should consider reviewing the sealing management plan such that, when the shield recovery progressed past the Maingate Chute Road that the TG Chute Road seal be completed and Floxal gas injected into this road, similar to the TG seal. The Maingate Chute Road would then be used as the return for the remaining shield recovery. The Mine agreed to consider this.

I thanked the people for their time and explained that I and Inspector Brown would return to the Mine at 8:00 AM on Friday 6 September to review progress and to discuss plans going

Les Marlborough

Inspector of Mines