Expert fears explosion in blazing mine

AN EXPLOSION could be brewing underground at North Goonyella Mine.

A spontaneous coal fire that’s been burning for days and the presence of methane seam gas, have produced a volatile situation.

The fire at the Bowen Basin mine, which has 225 employees according to Peabody Energy, could rage for years if efforts to extinguish it fail, putting the long- term viability of North Goonyella at risk.

The situation at the mine, about 65km north of Moranbah and 160km west of Mackay, had progressively worsened over the past few weeks, a mine fires expert said yesterday.

University of Queensland Professor of Occupational Health and Safety in Mining David Cliff has been “working with the mine” in recent days.

Prof Cliff, who has helped deal with about 35 mine fires during a career spanning nearly three decades, provided an alarming take on the situation, which has not resulted in reported injuries to workers.

“The incident is, they’ve had a spontaneous combustion event, which is when coal selfheats,” he said.

“Coal is an organic material and in the wrong conditions it will react with air and generate heat, get hotter and end up burning all by itself. An event like that has apparently occurred in one of the working sections of the mine. ( Peabody) have attempted to control the event, but attempts at control underground, I believe, have failed and ( they’ve) had to evacuate the mine.

“In combination with the fire risk from spontaneous combustion, there is, because there is methane seam gas at the mine, a potential of an explosion at the mine.”

“The mine’s concern with the workforce safety is paramount.”

Prof Cliff said the incident at North Goonyella Mine had been “progressing adversely for a few weeks”.

“( Peabody) has been trying to control it for a number of weeks. They’ve done a lot of activity to do that, but their activities turned out not to be successful in this instance,” he said. “I think the control systems in place, while they may not be able to prevent the incident occurring or getting worse, are very much a case of protecting people.

“The likelihood of the explosion occurring while people were underground was very low — negligible. As soon as it became clear there was any potential for that, the workforce was evacuated.”