OceanaGold has promised to care for the family of dead Waihi miner Tipiwai Stainton, saying the mining company would treat his young son as one of its own.
Stainton died last Thursday night when the front-end loader he was operating rolled down an area he had been filling with waste rock.
OceanaGold Waihi general manager Bernie O'Leary said Stainton was regarded as a "warrior within the mining industry".
The whanau won't go wanting, they won't be forgotten and we will treat his son as our own.
"Tip leaves a really big gap in all of our lives because he was a mine rescue team member and in fact had just been made a team leader, and he was an active member of the site safety committee. We all regarded him as a true leader."