Slow inquest adds to pain

We need answers, says family of Mt Lyell miner killed in mudslide

THE daughter of late Mt Lyell miner Michael Welsh may have left Queenstown but the drawn-out inquest into her dad’s death in a mudslide is making moving on difficult.

Tameka Sylvester left Tasmania for NSW after Mr Welsh’s death underground in January, 2014.

He was just 53, a wellknown local and an experienced miner.

“We packed up and moved out. I didn’t want to be reminded of what had happened all the time,” she said.

Ms Sylvester learned this week, via the media, that the inquest into her father’s death was set to resume now a legal challenge by mining company Copper Mines of Tasmania had been quashed by the High Court.

Yesterday, she backed up what former mining manager Jared DeRoss told Coroner Simon Cooper back in April, 2018 when the inquest began: that safety concerns were raised the night before, and again just 20 minutes prior to her father being sent down into the mine and killed in a mudslide.

“We need answers as a family. Why was he sent to that level when the company had been told it was an unsafe work environment?” she said.

“The area should have been inspected by people higher up than the shift boss and my dad.

“The biggest let down this time around is that we have been kept in the dark about the progression of the coronial process.”

The date for the resumption of the inquest is yet to be set, but Ms Sylvester said she would fly back to Tasmania to hear the evidence presented.

There could be some shuffling of management chairs at CMT before the inquest resumes.

Peter Walker, who has been acting general manager for the past four years, is on leave.

When contacted by the Mercury he rejected suggestions he had been stood down but did say he was considering his options and may not return to the job.

A CMT spokesman confirmed Mr Walker was on leave and said CMT’s project manager Clint Mayes had been appointed senior site manager in his absence.

There is no sign of when, or if, the mothballed mine might reopen.

The last update came from Indian parent company Vedanta in its annual report.

The mine has been in care and maintenance mode since 2013 following the deaths of miners Alistair Lucas and Craig Gleeson who fell to their deaths after a platform broke.

Six weeks later, Mr Welsh was killed at work.

“We continue to evaluate various options for a profitable restart given the government’s current favourable support and good prices,” Vedanta said.

The Tasmanian Government has given Vedanta $9.5 million to help it undertake works towards a restart and also put a payroll tax deal on the table in the event the mine does begin producing copper again.