The two miners who fell right into a cavernous gap 125m underground at a significant zinc mine in far northwestern Queensland have been recognized.
Dylan Langridge and Trevor Davis stay unaccounted for nearly 30 hours for the reason that equipment they had been driving plummeted 25m down a gap.
The incident occurred on the MMG Dugald River mine, about 70km northwest of Cloncurry, on Wednesday morning.
MMG normal supervisor Tim Akroyd stated two individuals in a light-weight truck and one other in a drill rig fell right into a void in a stope – a big gap used to extract ore – about 8.45am on Wednesday.
“The drill rig driver has been rescued and has received medical treatment. He’s in a stable condition,” Mr Ackroyd stated in an announcement learn on ABC TV.
“We know the location of where the incident has occurred. The two missing people are approximately 125m below the surface.”
He stated emergency crews had been utilizing underground drone expertise to research the soundness of the surroundings earlier than sending rescuers in.
“We expect the rescue teams to start with their operations once we can analyse the data collected and are comfortable with the next steps,” he stated.
“We will provide more details as they become available and a thorough investigation will be conducted to determine what led to this incident.”
Local state MP Robbie Katter stated the local people was in shock.
“This kind of event is obviously the worst nightmare of any mining group and I know there is a lot of anxiety across the community right now,” he stated in a Facebook submit.
“We know emergency services are on the ground and we are praying for a good outcome.
“My major concern is the wellbeing of these two employees and the task at hand to get them back safely to their families.”
Duguld River mine collapse
Queensland Resources Minister Scott Stewart stated mine security inspectors had been despatched to the location.
“Right now we are hoping for the best outcome for the two missing workers at Dugald River mine,” he stated in a tweet.
“My major concern is the welfare of these workers.”
The mine is 70km northwest of Cloncurry. Staff and contractors are a mixture of fly-in, fly-out and native residents.
The Dugald River operation predominantly produces zinc focus, with by-products together with lead and silver, in keeping with the MMG Ltd web site.
It’s based mostly on one of many world’s highest-grade identified zinc deposits, and is anticipated to have a lifetime of greater than 20 years, producing a mean of 1.7 million tonnes of ore every year.
Dugald River ore is mined underground utilizing diamond drilling methods.
It began operations in 2017.
Barminco is likely one of the world’s largest arduous rock underground mining providers corporations, with operations in Australia, Africa and North America, its web site says.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au