RE: RE: RE: RE: Compliance Coal Hires VP Operation 2girlz, Mr. Ellis was hired by PRC as Operations Manager approx. 8 weeks prior to the methane explosion.
I believe the Royal Commission that handled the enquiry concluded, with the assistance of Solid Energy who later bought the mine, that the methane explosion was likely caused by the method of mining used to extract the coal, Hydro-Mining.
Mr Ellis was co-operative with the Commission from the get-go, along with a handful of other Officers of PRC. He was promoted to Mine Manager after the explosion by PriceCooper who was handling the receivership of Pike River Coal.
I don't believe Mr. Ellis could have prevented the tragedy, as much of the problem seems to have stemmed from initial mine design, mining techniques, and pressure by top brass to increase coal production.
Now, your assumption that this is bad PR, well I can agree with that somewhat, but that is far from assuming that CEC was “scraping the bottom of the barrel” by hiring Mr. Ellis, IMO.