Solid Energy wants to buy Pike River mine

State-owned mining company Solid Energy has revealed it wants to buy the Pike River Coal mine, pay off its unsecured creditors and recover the bodies of 29 men still trapped inside.
Receivers last week said they wished to sell the mine. They confirmed a number of unsolicited expressions of interest.
Solid Energy, which operates several West Coast mines including the nearby Spring Creek Coal Mine, yesterday said it was one of those looking to buy the rights to extract the $6 billion of coal still at Pike River through a mixture of opencast and underground mining.
Chief executive Don Elder said recovering the 29 bodies still inside the mine would be a priority.