Court told of deadly rush of mud, rocks

A RUSH of mud, rocks and debris that killed a West Coast miner had blown the windows out of a loader in which the miner was working, the Burnie Magistrates Court has heard.

In his opening statement yesterday, Crown prosecutor Simon Nicholson said there had been a history of mud rushes at the Mt Lyell mine at Queenstown.

Copper Mines of Tasmania has pleaded not guilty to one count of failure to comply with heath and safety duty category 2.

The charge arises from the death of Queenstown miner Michael George Welsh, 53, on January 17, 2014.

Mr Nicholson said the prosecution would focus on the mine’s alleged failure to evaluate the risk of inundation and to mitigate the risks.

He said the situation at the so-called TD 13 and TD 14 drawpoints had prompted attention via the company’s Trigger Action Response Plan, which had identified the risk and elevated its classification from monitor to medium over the period from January 12-17.

He said there had been a lot of discoloured water in the mine and earthen material was described as “bulging and walking”.

Mr Nicholson said there had been differences of opinion on how to address the problem including the use of shotcrete to stabilise surfaces.

But he said the Crown would allege that a formal risk assessment was not undertaken.

Mr Welsh was operating a loader at the 1415 level on a plan agreed with a fellow miner Dave Woolley.

After leaving for another area, Mr Woolley radioed Mr Welsh, who told him “two more little tickles and she’ll be right”.

The court heard that the Crown would allege that 1500 cubic metres of mud and rocks had flooded the area Mr Welsh was working in.

Mr Nicholson said Mr Welsh’s body was outside the loader. The windows had blown out and the cab full of mud.

He said Mr Welsh’s body had been found in a metre of muddy water.