Mine bosses’ ‘heated’ talk before death

A SHIFT boss at Copper Mines of Tasmania’s Mt Lyell mine had a “heated” argument with one of his superiors about the safety rating of the area where miner Michael Welsh, 53, was killed in a mudrush in 2014, an inquest has heard.

Leigh Johnstone was the shift boss on the night shift that started on January 16 and yesterday told the inquest he argued with a superior to raise the safety rating that applied to the area where the mudrush happened on January 17.

Mr Johnstone said at the end of his shift, early on January 17, he told one of his superiors he had concerns about two “draw points” — areas where ore is loaded — known as TD13 and TD14.

“Things got a bit heated,” Mr Johnstone told the inquest.

“He thought I was soft, he said the crew was walking all over me. I said, ‘I don’t care; I’m the one who’s got to get them out at the end of the day’.”

The inquest is investigating Mr Welsh’s death and the deaths of two other miners, Craig Gleeson, 45, and Alistair Lucas, 25, who died at the Queenstown mine six weeks earlier when a platform they were working on collapsed.

All three were employed by Barminco, the company contracted to do the underground work at the mine.

Mr Johnstone said at the end of his shift, the safety rating was upgraded to medium, which was the third highest of four possible ratings.

The inquest previously heard when the safety rating was medium, access to the area was restricted until it was inspected and deemed safe for work to continue.

About 7.15am on January 17, Mr Welsh, an experienced machinery operator, and day shift supervisor David Woolley went to inspect TD14. Mr Woolley told the inquest from what he saw during the inspection, he would have rated the area at “monitor” — the rating below medium.

He said he and Mr Welsh inspected the area together and Mr Welsh remained to do some work on his own.

Mr Woolley said he spoke to Mr Welsh over the radio about 10 minutes later, and seven minutes after that he heard an emergency radio call advising of a mudrush.

Mr Woolley said Mr Welsh did not express any concern about operating his bogger in the area that morning.

Mr Johnstone and another machinery operator, Luke Freeman, said they later heard others had experienced problems when working in TD14 in the days leading up to the mudrush.

Mine foreman Jason Retallick told the inquest when he inspected the area earlier in the week there was nothing to suggest risk of a mudrush.

He agreed conditions in draw points could change quickly.

The inquest, before Coroner Simon Cooper, continues.