HOPE FADES FOR MINER
A RESCUE mission deep inside Henty Gold Mine on Tasmania’s West Coast failed to find a missing miner yesterday afternoon.
The miner, understood to be a loader driver from a well-known Queenstown family, was reported missing at 4am yesterday by coworkers after they could not make contact with him.
Rescue crews reviewed the thermal imaging and robotic camera footage yesterday afternoon and were unable to identify any signs of life. Pybar Mining Services chief executive Brendan Rouse (right) said the company and the workforce were “very distressed” and the mine would remain closed until the missing man was found.
A FEELING of relief was replaced by intense sadness in the mining town of Queenstown as early hopes were quashed that a miner trapped deep in the Henty Gold Mine would be brought to the surface unharmed.
At 1pm yesterday, emergency workers were hopeful the miner, yet to be named, would be rescued alive and well after a nine-hour ordeal underground.
The worker was on night shift loading trucks with ore.
He was reported missing about 4am after his colleagues could not make communications contact with him and entered the area he was working in, about 20 minutes 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.
Pybar Mining Services CEO Brendan Rouse said the company and the workforce were “very distressed” but hopeful.
It was hoped the miner was inside his loader to provide extra protection when the earth collapsed.
By 4pm, hope that the missing miner would soon be back on the surface had dimmed after drone and thermal technology failed to locate him or any signs of life.
The man’s family, understood to be a well-known local mining family, was being supported by his employer Pybar Mining Services and asked for privacy as they waited for more news.
West Coast Council Mayor Phil Vickers was visibly upset as the reality set in that the incident could be another mining industry fatality.
It would 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 boasts 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 res
cue 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 was scheduled last night to inform the other 120 workers at the site of the situation.
An inquest into the death of Mt Lyell miner Michael Welsh, who was killed in a mud rush at the copper operation in January, 2014, resumes in Hobart today.