It is the site of the Pike River Mine disaster that occurred on 19 November 2010, leading to the deaths of 29 men whose remains have not been recovered.

The mine and its assets are owned by the Department of Conservation, whom, on 1 July 2022, assumed ownership and management following the dissolution of the Pike River Recovery Agency.

As of July 2020 the recovery team had penetrated over 1.4 km into the mine and recovered four original rescue robots previously lost.

[7] On 17 February 2021, the Pike River Recovery Agency reported that it had reached a point 2.2 km up the mine access tunnel to the site of a rockfall.

On 23 March 2021, the minister responsible for Pike River Re-entry, Andrew Little, stated that it would be too difficult and expensive to go any further into the mine.

The mine is located approximately halfway between Greymouth and Reefton, close to the Pike Stream, a tributary of the Big River in a region that already has a long history of coal- and gold-mining activity.

[4][5] Because of the status of the land, Pike River Coal Ltd had to obtain the Minister of Conservation's agreement to an access arrangement for mining under Section 61(2) of the Crown Minerals Act 2001.

The arrangement included four 1.5-metre (4.9 ft)-wide emergency escape shafts within the boundaries of Paparoa National Park and a requirement for Pike River Coal Ltd to spend NZ$70,000 annually on conservation projects.

[9] Due to the location, the conditions of the access arrangement included special considerations for the environment, such as minimising tree felling and a requirement to reinstate all above-ground areas after the cessation of mining.

[4][5] Opponents of the mine strongly criticised the approval of the access agreement, noting that the coal is not intended for domestic use but simply a commercial operation, and thus should not have been allowed to go forward in a sensitive location.

Since the coal face will be located higher than the tunnel entrance, removal of material to a processing plant 10.6 km (6.6 mi) away will be via a slurry pipeline (with a 35% solids share).

[4][5][12] Access to the top of the ventilation shaft is by helicopter only, even during construction, as conservation restrictions do not allow roads to be built to reach this point.

[4][5] On 27 November 2007, it was announced that the coal from the mine would be transported to Lyttelton for export rather than the previously proposed shipment via the Port of Taranaki.

[14] The mine was to have about 150 full-time staff, though in 2007–2008, there were problems filling all positions, partly because of high demand for the same occupations in the Australian and international job markets.

[4][5] In February 2010, Pike River Mine made its first export shipment of 20,000 tonnes of premium hard coking coal to India.

[28] In December 2012, Prime Minister John Key said he would apologise in person to the families of the deceased, for the Government's weak regulations and inadequate inspection regime.

[32] The development was valued at NZ$2.3 billion and was initially held by New Zealand Oil & Gas (29% stake plus options and bonds[33]) as well as the two Indian companies, Gujarat NRE Coke Limited (17% share), and Saurashtra Fuels Private Limited (15% share), with the two latter companies intending to buy about half the running production of the mine's coal.

[4] After the IPO, the ownership percentages changed to NZ Oil and Gas 31%, Gujarat NRE Coke 10%, Saurashtra Fuels 8.5%, with private minority shareholders holding 7.9% and the remaining 42.5% having been sold to the general public.

It was also announced that it would be unlikely that the further numbers of contracting staff also unemployed or unpaid due to the mine accident would receive any money, as they legally ranked low in the order of creditors.

[35] In early 2011, it was reported that the receiver was considering different ways of treating the remaining assets of the Pike River Mine Ltd company.

[42] In August 2011, KiwiRail blamed the Canterbury Earthquakes and "loss of Pike River Mine volumes" for its poor end-of-year result in 2010 – 2011.

[53] On 17 February 2021, the Pike River Recovery Agency reported that it had reached a point 2.2 kilometres up the mine access tunnel to the site of a rockfall.

The Agency would now focus on conducting forensic work in the Pit Bottom in the Stone area required for the New Zealand Police investigation.

[54][55] On 23 March 2021, the Minister responsible for Pike River Re-entry, Andrew Little, stated that it was too hard and too expensive to go any further into the mine.

[56] In mid-May 2021, the Government began reviewing an NZ$8 million plan submitted by a group representing 23 Pike River families to recover the mine's ventilation fan, which is considered to be the most likely source of the 2010 explosion.