The future of New Zealand's entire underground mining industry was in doubt following a colliery disaster that claimed 29 lives, Prime Minister John Key said on Sunday.
The industry, which has enjoyed a boom in recent years thanks to surging demand from Asia, could not continue if there was a risk of more tragedies such as this month's Pike river pit explosion, Key said.
Announcing he wanted a powerful royal commission to investigate the disaster, Key told TVNZ: "In the end, the future of Pike river and actually underground coal mining in New Zealand rests on this.
"We can't put people into mines that are dangerous."
He said there were four underground mines in New Zealand and about 450 people were directly involved in the industry.
However, the wealth generated by the industry as Chinese and Indian steelmakers clamour for New Zealand's high-quality coking coal means it is a major economic driver in small mining communities across the nation.
Key said he would ask parliament tomorrow to set up a royal commission into the mine explosion at the remote south island pit on November 19. Another blast eliminated any hopes for the miners' survival, and a third followed.
The colliery, which opened two years ago, remains flooded with explosive methane gas, preventing emergency crews reaching the miners' bodies entombed within.
Key said the royal commission — the most powerful investigation available under New Zealand law — would be headed by a judge and have the power to compel witnesses to testify.
It would be the first royal commission to investigate a disaster since a probe into an air New Zealand crash in 1979, when a sightseeing flight to Antarctica slammed into Mount Erebus, killing 257 people, Key said.
He said a royal commission had "gravitas and does demonstrate the significance of this national tragedy".
"There are serious questions that need to be answered," he said, vowing the enquiry would leave "no stone unturned" to find the cause of the blast.
Pike river Coal executives have expressed hope the mine will eventually reopen but Key said that was unlikely to happen until the royal commission was complete, a process that could take more than a year.
"It can't and won't reopen until we've identified what's caused the build up of methane," he said.(AFP)