Anglo American’s Grosvenor mine has plagued by serious safety problems since it started operating
Mining giant Anglo American’s Grosvenor mine was plagued by safety problems as soon as it started operating.
Mining giant Anglo American’s Grosvenor mine was plagued by safety problems as soon as it started operating, including three roof collapses in three months, an electric shock, a fire underground and injuries so serious miners had to be hospitalised.
The mining giant’s Australia-based metallurgical coal chief executive conceded that the company’s safety performance in 2016 at Grosvenor had been “unacceptable,” but insisted it had done substantial work to improve.
An independent board of inquiry is investigating a methane explosion at the underground coalmine in central Queensland’s Bowen Basin on May 6, which nearly killed five workers.
Leaked documents reveal Queensland’s Mines Inspectorate visited the mine and launched inspections into other safety incidents soon after Anglo produced its first coal at Grosvenor in May 2016.
Although the inspectorate issued the mine with warnings and directives to review procedures and comply with state regulations, it is understood never to have ordered Anglo to suspend mining operations at the site.
The Australian revealed on Monday that Grosvenor had reported dangerously high methane levels at least 98 times before the mine exploded.
The company confirmed it introduced a “behavioural safety program” 18 months ago — three years after it started producing coal at Grosvenor — to encourage workers to speak up on safety, including through a “confidential, anonymous reporting service” managed by a third party.
Former federal resources minister Matt Canavan said the reports were “shocking” and the Queensland government should consider removing the “good standing” of mining companies and their ability to mine if there were repeated safety breaches.
Anglo’s Grosvenor mine had three unexpected roof falls in three months in 2016, with miners narrowly escaping from the first on June 5, shortly after 10pm.
“The roof failed as the (senior mine worker) was again reading the telltale,” the Queensland government Mine Record Entry report says. “He took evasive action, running outbye (away from the coal face) of the fall. Once the dust cleared, he returned to the edge of the fall and guided the four crew members from inbye to safety… no persons were injured and those involved were offered counselling.”
Another roof collapse happened 350m underground on July 4. Inspector Richard Gouldstone said the unexpected roof falls would need to be considered for their “implications for the long-term strata control prospects for the mine”.
Strata control refers to the ability to keep a mine’s underground openings stable to allow mining to occur safely.
A third roof collapse occurred on August 20, 2016,
CFMEU president Steve Smyth said while some controlled roof falls occurred in underground coalmining as part of planned processes, these events were “not normal” and should have been “a red flag”.
The inspectorate was so concerned by the frequency of high-potential incidents at Grosvenor in the last quarter of 2016 that Inspector Keith Brennan met with senior mine executives on January 5, 2017, to inspect the mine, and present a damning power point presentation to mine workers.
“Six cable incidents — high potential incidents. Alarmingly one where a shuttle car cable was torn in half! An electric shock? A failure of explosion protection equipment. Fire — the location of the fire was in a low potential area of the mine, (but) a fire underground is unacceptable,” Mr Brennan said.
“The significance of the above high potential incidents are they are all potential ignition sources! Potential High Pressure Injection. Collisions x3. Two serious injuries requiring CMW (coalmine worker) hospitalisation.”
Anglo American’s metallurgical coal chief Tyler Mitchelson said the “safety performance in quarter four 2016 described by the Mines Inspectorate was clearly unacceptable”.
“Over the past three years, we have undertaken substantial work to improve the standards, technology and behavioural safety in our underground mines, and drawn on external technical expertise and international best practice.
“It would be inappropriate for anyone to speculate about potential links between incidents occurring more than three years ago, and the methane ignition on 6 May,” he said.
Know more? Email elkss@theaustralian.com.au
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