Donations have started coming in to a fund set up to establish and maintain a permanent memorial to the Pike River mine workers.
The fund has been launched with donations of $75,000 from the ASB bank and $25,000 from the Greymouth Star newspaper.
The newspaper's general manager, John Goulding, a member of a committee of Greymouth people formed to oversee the raising of funds and the building of the monument, says he is confident that the sum of $100,000 will be more than doubled.
He says the committee hopes to have the monument in place in time for the first anniversary of the first mine explosion.
"This is a sad part of Coast history and it's got to be remembered," Mr Goulding says, "and we wanted it to be a community thing rather than coming from anywhere else."
