Townsville gold mine at centre of workplace dust exposure claim

A former gold miner suing the company that ran a Qld mine when he was allegedly exposed to fatal levels of dust has made a successful application to expedite the trial due to his deteriorating health.

The Ravenswood Gold processing plant south of Townsville.

A former gold miner suing the company that ran a Queensland mine when he was allegedly exposed to fatal levels of dust will go to trial in three months time after a successful application to expedite the trial due to his deteriorating health.

Kevin James Barratt, who is being represented by Mackay firm Macrossan and Amiet, has lodged a claim following his exposure during 2001 and 2002 at the mine now known as Ravenswood Gold in North Queensland, which is 1.5 hours drive south of Townsville.

During the application in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton on September 25, the court heard the mine had changed hands about five times and been owned by multiple mining companies since Mr Barratt worked there and was exposed to the dust.

There are eight defendants in the matter, with the first defendant in the claim being Carpentaria Gold Pty Ltd, the second Century Mining and others including Queensland Rail, Red River Resources Limited and Ravenswood Gold.

The lawyer representing Carpentaria Gold, said all the defendants were sympathetic to Mr Barratt’s circumstances and the need for the matter to brought on for a speedy trial.

“Carpentaria Gold was originally owned by Xstrata at the time the alleged exposure to dust occurred in 2001, 2002,” Mr Sullivan said.

“Xstrata sold the company with the mine to Resolute Mining in 2004.”

Resolute added Ravenswood to its portfolio after it acquired Carpentaria Gold in 2004.

Mr Sullivan said he had been instructed by Resolute Mining that Xstrata kept all the records from 2001 and 2002.

He said Resolute Mining then sold the mine, not the company, to another company Ravenswood Gold which was the subject of a previous application in August.

Mr Sullivan said the staff, the personnel moved to Ravenswood Gold as part of the sales agreement.

The mine was again sold in 2020 to a consortium comprising a fund (EMR Fund) managed by EMR Capital Management and Golden Energy and Resources (GEAR).

Mr Sullivan said therefore, the defendants did not have the documents nor the personnel to ask about the mine at the time of the alleged exposure.

He said the lines of inquiry would now have to go through Glencore as Glencore merged with Xstrata in 2014 and it was believed all the records from Xstrata went over to Glencore.

“It’s rather an exercise trying to get records out of Glencore,” Mr Sullivan said.

“We’re aiming to try and do that by the end of October.”

Mr Sullivan said there will need to be disclosure to be undertaken by the employers who placed Mr Barratt at Carpentaria Gold’s mine in 2001 and 2002.

He said parties had been working towards a hearing on January 25 where they would know if they were ever going to get the information sought or not.

The court heard the third defendant in the proceedings is under external administration.

Justice Graeme Crow set a trial date for December 10, noting the concerns of the first, second and third defendants and that they are “doing their best” in working towards getting their cases together in a very short period of time.

He said it may be that the trial will be part heard.