George Mason told an inquiry into the mining disaster he had no previous experience as a hydro miner before commencing his role as hydraulic mining coordinator on August 23, 2010.

Mason said he was an experienced underground miner and was employed as a development coordinator for 18 months at Australia’s Goonyella mine prior to starting at Pike River.

He said Pike River management only told him his position at the mine would be an actual hydro coordinator role “rather than a general mining coordinator role” at the second stage of the interview process.

Despite having no experience, management had assured Mason he would receive adequate training upon his commencement of his new role.

But under questioning from lawyer Nigel Hampton, Mason explained to the commission that he had never received formal training before commencing his role.

“Pike River management, did they supply you any training materials at all, for your own training?” Hampton asked.

“They gave me some documentation with regard to risk assessment that’d been conducted prior to my arrival at the operation… but not with regard to the hydromining process, no,” Mason said.

When asked by Hampton if he had done any of his own research into hydro mining, Mason said he had resorted to the internet for advice on the coal extraction method.

“I’d endeavored to do so (research) before I came, when I first became aware that it was hydromining co-coordinator’s role and I couldn't find a great deal on the internet about it,” Mason said.

The inquiry heard how Mason’s one-week long induction at Pike River had ended around the same time the mine started trialing hydro mining in mid September.

However the induction didn’t cover hydro mining and he was left feeling overwhelmed when he started underground.

“I was a little out of my depth because of my lack of knowledge of the hydro-machinery and equipment,” Mason said.

“At that point in time Pike River was a very busy place… a lot of events that made me feel, I guess, overwhelmed to some extent.”

Mason said these feelings had slowly subsided by the time of the explosion, but he “couldn’t say they were completely gone”

Mason said he was left to learn about his role as the hydro mining coordinator from his fellow employees, including Masaoki Nishioka who left only a month after the hydroming start-up date on October 19.

“The truth is, apart from what assistance you could get from people who had done a bit of hydromining, who were in junior positions to you, there was no experienced expert team around you at all, was there?” Nicholas Davidson QC asked under cross-examination.

“Well, not once Oki left, that's correct,” he said.

Davidson then suggested the crew responsible for hydraulic mining was essentially an “untrained workforce” and asked Mason if he believed this was an unsatisfactory situation.

“I was trying to do the best I could with the resources that were available to me,” Mason said.

“I would rather it had not been that way.”

Mason believed 50% of the miners at the panel had not received formal training.

During his testimony, Mason said an arrangement had been made for him to visit the hydromining operation at Spring Creek in order to enhance his knowledge of the procedures and equipment.

He revealed the visit was never made because “things” came up on the dates that were arranged for him to go.

He admitted he was never given training on how to deal with ventilation and gas issues at the panel face and was not able to access the mine’s methane levels because he was unfamiliar with the mine’s computer system.

Mason said he never informed management about this.

“I was aware of what was happening in the mine without referring to a graph,” Mason said.

The next stage of the phase three inquiry will resume on December 5.