ENVIRONMENT

Grosvenor mine workers stable after ignition incident

FOUR contract miners who were injured by the ignition of methane at Anglo American’s Grosvenor longwall mine in Queensland earlier this month had their conditions classified as stable at the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Anglo American coal business CEO Tyler Mitchelson.

Anglo American coal business CEO Tyler Mitchelson.

A fifth miner involved in the incident was released from hospital earlier last week.

Anglo American's Metallurgical coal business CEO Tyler Mitchelson said the company was continuing to work closely with mine workers' employer One Key and to support their families as much as possible during this time.

"In the last week we received the positive news that one of our five injured colleagues was released from hospital, and our other four colleagues are now in a stable condition as they continue to be treated in the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital," he said.

"We have also advised our Grosvenor production crews that we are planning for them to undertake alternate duties until early July.

"We will not resume mining until we know it is safe to do so."

Mitchelson said through the company's own expert investigation team and other inquiries underway, it would learn more to help improve the management of methane and safety in underground mining.

"We will cooperate fully with the Queensland government's board of inquiry," he said.

"We want to understand why this devastating incident happened, and we understand that everyone else does too.

"Over the last few days we commenced ‘Stop for Safety' sessions across all our sites, to reflect on the incident at Grosvenor, have a broader discussion around our safety plans and encouraged our workforce to access the support services we have in place if they need them.

"As part of our response to COVID-19, we have also extended our confidential counselling service, provided by Gryphon Psychology, to community members in the Moranbah, Middlemount, and Moura areas until July 31."

 

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