Recovery of miner’s body

THE body of a miner killed at the Henty Gold Mine has been recovered after 26 days underground.

The body of Queenstown local Cameron Goss was retrieved at 3am yesterday, PYBAR Mining Services confirmed.

Mr Goss, 44, was killed when the earth beneath his loader collapsed in the early hours of January 23.

Tasmania Police said his body was recovered by the mine’s emergency response team with the assistance of other mining experts from the West Coast and ERT teams from across the country.

“Our thoughts remain with Mr Goss’s family, friends and colleagues. The incident will be investigated and a report prepared for the coroner,” a police statement said.

PYBAR chief executive Brendan Rouse praised everyone involved in the recovery for their hard work.

“On behalf of all at PYBAR, I express my deepest sympathies to Cameron’s family and gratitude to all on site for their efforts in this recovery,” Mr Rouse said.

“This has been a very complex operation and the recovery and site teams have experienced intense physical and mental strain over the past weeks. It is an incredibly sad time for all people at the mine and in the community.”

The PYBAR mining services recovery team was planning to retrieve Mr Goss earlier this month and last week announced their first attempt at the “complex and challenging exercise” was unsuccessful.

The Australian Workers’ Union acknowledged the efforts of the mine’s Emergency Response Team over the course of the operation.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton said the union would “continue to work with PYBAR to fully understand what led to this tragic death”.

“We hope this will bring closure to the family of Cameron Goss and allow his loved ones to grieve and remember him,” Mr Walton said.

“Our thoughts are with his family at this very difficult time.”

The Henty Gold Mine site, which is near Queenstown, has restarted limited mine operations at another section of the mine under approval of the coroner and regulator.