Rescuers feeling ‘positive’ in search for worker after rockfall at Henty Gold Mine
Emergency crews, including a specialist mine rescue crew are still no closer to locating the missing miner after an earth collapse earlier this morning as the rescue attempt continues.
Tasmania
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UPDATED, 5.30PM A feeling of relief has been replaced by a feeling of intense sadness in the mining town of Queenstown as early hopes a miner trapped deep in the Henty Gold Mine would be brought to the surface unharmed were quashed.
At 1pm Thursday, emergency workers were hopeful the still unnamed miner would be rescued alive and well after a nine-hour ordeal underground.
The worker was reported missing about 4am after his colleagues could not make communications contact with him and entered the area he was working in, about a 20-minute descent underground.
The three men found a section of earth collapsed and were unable to locate their colleague. They went back to the surface and raised the alarm.
By 4pm, that hope that the missing miner would soon be back on the surface had dimmed after drone and thermal technology failed to locate him and any signs of life.
The man’s family, understood to be a well-known local mining family, is being supported by his employer Pybar Mining Services and has asked for privacy as they wait for more news.
West Coast mayor Phil Vickers was visibly upset as the reality became apparent that the incident could be another mining industry fatality.
If the man is dead it will be the fourth fatality to hit the close-knit West Coast community in six years and the first at the Henty Gold Mine since it started operations in 1996.
“I can assure the community that everything that can be done is being done. Of course we still hold out hope but we also hold grave concerns for his welfare,” Mr Vickers said.
“We are a small community and the West Coast Council will work hard to ensure our communal grief is managed. Queenstown boats 150 years of mining and there are four or five generations of miners in some families.
“Incidents such as this really hurt but we will band together as we have done in the past.”
Inspector Shane Le Fevre said rescuers who descended into the lower levels of the mine got within 50m of where the missing miner was working when he lost contact with colleagues.
“They searched for signs of life but there were none,” Insp. Le Fevre said.
“We are now working with specialist to form a plan on how best to get back down to the area and continue the rescue attempt.”
The rescue site is so deep into the mine it takes rescuers 25 minutes to descend to the level where the missing worker was loading ore into a truck when he was isolated.
“We now have grave fears for his safety,” Insp. Le Fevre.
“We were reasonably confident we could get their quickly and find the signs of life we were wishing for.
“Time is crucial. The sooner we get back in the better.”
Operations at the mine will stay suspended until the missing miner is found.
A meeting is being held tonight to inform the other 120 workers at the site of the situation.
helen.kempton@news.com.au
FROM 2014: LOSSES PUSH HENTY CLOSURE CLOSER
EARLIER: The mining community on Tasmania’s west coast is holding its breath as it waits for news on the welare of a miner trapped deep underground at the Henty Gold Mine,
While people in Queenstown, where the trapped miner and his family are from, are going about their daily business there is a tension in the air.
“We are all trying to stay positive,” Mayor Phil Vickers said.
“The community’s support and well wishes are behind him.
“When something like this happens there is not just a ripple in the immediate community but through the mining industry across Australia.”
Mining, and especially underground mining, is inherently a dangerous business.
“it is the nature of the business but that doesn’t take the edge of situations like this. At this point in time we are just keeping a positive focus”
Mr Vickers said he did not know the man well but he knew of him and that he had family in Queenstown - a town still coming to terms with the death of three miners in two separate fatal incidents at the Mt Lyell copper mine in December 2013 and January 2014.
The inquest into the death of miner Michael Welsh in a mud rush continues in Hobart tomorrow.
“the events at Mt Lyell are stil fresh. The community will come together again. Mining is a big employer here and a big part of our culture but that doesn’t make tragedy any easier to take.”.
UPDATED, 3PM: SEARCH crews attempting to locate the missing man inside the collapsed Henty Gold Mine have returned to the surface with no clearer picture of where he could be.
Police, fire and specialist mine rescue crews are reviewing the thermal imaging and robotic camera footage taken in the latest attempt to pinpoint the man’s location.
Current imaging has not been able to identify any signs of life.
EARLIER: A RESCUE mission is underway deep inside the Henty Gold Mine on Tasmania’s West Coast with emergency services expecting to locate a trapped miner within the hour.
“We are hoping to soon make contact with the missing worker and get him out,” Inspector Shane LeFevre said on the surface of the mine at 1pm.
“We are positive he is still with us and hope to get him out within the hour.”
READ THE ROLLING COVERAGE HERE
The miner, a loader driver from Queenstown who has worked by PYBAR Mining Services at Henty for two years, was reported missing at 4am by co-workers after they could not make contact with him.
Those co-workers found the ground collapsed around where he was loading a truck with ore.
His shift was due to finish at 7am and he is very deep in the mine – about a 20-minute drive underground.
It is hoped he is in his machine which would provide extra protection.
“We will soon be able to identify where he is and what his condition is,” PYBAR Mining Services CEO Brendan Rouse said.
“There are currently about 20 emergency workers in the mine including a crew and specialised equipment from the Rosebery mine.
READ ABOUT THE MINE’S HISTORY:
- HENTY MINE REBIRTH IS SOLID GOLD
- BIG LOSSES PUSH HENTY GOLD MINE CLOSURE CLOSER
- HENTY GOLD HEADING FOR CARE AND MAINTENANCE MODE
“We are confident he will be found soon but are very distressed at the moment. The focus is on finding him.”
Drones and thermal imaging technology are being used as emergency crews try to locate the man – one of about 120 personnel at the west coast mine.
It is the first significant incident at the mine – about 30km from Queenstown – in its history and the first in the Tasmanian mining industry since 2013-14 when three miners were killed in two separate incidents at Mt Lyell copper mine.
Henty Gold Mine first opened in 1996 and was put on care and maintenance in 2015 and reopened in 2017.
helen.kempton@news.com.au
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