Wouter Niehaus

I recall I engaged in a robust discussion with Mr Niehaus about corrective actions to manage the gas exceedances. We discussed the bleeder road and I suggested he consider putting the roadway on return.” Inspector Brennan Grosvenor Inquiry Statement. Never tendered at Grosvenor Inquiry. Inspector Brennan gave no evidence. Why not?

  • August 3, 2021

The bleeder shaft being intake and its negative effect on LW 104 spontaneous combustion likelihood and goaf fringe location received a lot of attention at the Grosvenor Inquiry. The reason the bleeder…

I said words to the effect We are issuing a Directive tonight to suspend operations. No-one is to access the underground workings.” I recall Glen Britton challenging me by asking, with words to the effect of  “On what Grounds? Who would make the decision? And where was the risk?  Inspector A and I responded that it was on the ground of an unacceptable level of risk. I said that we did not have any relevant data to interpret as yet and we did not know what had caused the ignition. At the conclusion of the conversation, Mr Britton laughed and walked away.

  • July 22, 2021

There is a large amount of material available to the Grosvenor Inquiry that has never been tendered as evidence and has not been made public. This includes the Statements from…

In addition, the manager, albeit prompted by others, arranged for a risk assessment of the proposed extraction design.  The assessment made scant reference to spontaneous combustion and then only with a low level probability that it could arise from the extraction of bottom coal.  Moreover, the consequence of an occurrence was rated at the lowest safety level, mentioning short panel life and use of continuous gas monitoring as existing safeguards

  • July 21, 2021

This Mining Inquiry comment has a familiar ring  after the Grosvenor Inquiry. Mine Manager being prompted about spontaneous combustion risk assessment. Spontaneous Combustion rated low. Use of continuous gas monitoring…

The meeting was called at the request of Inspector Marlborough to discuss the recent 27 exceedances of 2.5% methane in the LW102 TG. Reconsidering if the bleeder could be made a return. Inspector Marlborough requested a copy of the Ventsim model which was the basis for the Mine decision to discount this option

  • July 19, 2021

A further 22 Methane HPI's occur between the 18th of January and the 19th of March 2018. On Monday 19 March 2018, Inspectors Marlborough, Brown and Gouldstone held a meeting…