The longwall mine was not revealed in the Queensland Mines Inspectorate’s monthly compilation report, but the roof fall consisted of around 50 cubic metres of debris and extended across five tailgate shields.

The inspectorate said the “possible” hydraulic injury was received by a fitter when a pressure inter-chock hose burst on a longwall.

Another mechanical incident occurred when a worker was lowering a powered roof support, which then continued to lower down after the valve was released.

An explosion risk was discovered by a sparkie while he carried out a daily inspection of a continuous miner.

The flame path gap on a solenoid enclosure on the main valve bank was found to be greater than allowed.

An Eimco 130 load haul dump was carrying a mesh pod on the way to a development panel when it struck the side of an airtrack drill rig parked on the side of the access road.

Other incidents included a 200 tonne rockfall on an incline while it was being developed, plus a fall of ground in a drive from a footwall which engulfed a Caterpillar 1300 underground loader. The operator was rescued through the rear window.

Impacts from the high rainfall and dewatering efforts were behind several incidents in January.

In one case, workers observed smoke willowing out of a broken isolator and from under the battery box of a trailer-mounted dewatering pump.

“Shortly after, the battery lid blew off spraying acid on the workers,” the inspectorate said.

Two Cat 793 dump trucks got stuck by unexpected subsidence at tip edges, in one of the incidents the truck’s rear wheels went over the edge.

A dragline also subsided when the pad it was on started to crack, but it was walked to more stable ground.

There were several open cut incidents relating to vehicle loss of control, which included Cat 793 dump trucks.

In one case a Toyota troop carrier rolled on to its side after losing traction down a wet ramp.

A mine worker was bitten by a snake while servicing equipment, while a rear wheel fell off a light vehicle because all the wheel studs broke.

An Atlas Copco Scooptram LHD (ST1520) that was mucking to a recess collided with a service vehicle parked in this designated “no parking” area.

In one of the more unusual incidents, an instrument transformer linked to a 20 megawatt power transformer exploded, which threw oil, internal components and bits of ceramic insulation over a 20 metre radius, plus started a fire in 11 kilovolt cables.

There were 159 high-potential incidents in the state’s mining and quarrying industry in January, compared to 157 in December, and 130 for the 12-month rolling average.