While the company claimed the fatal cave-in was caused by a “seismic event,” the Australian Workers Union (AWU), which represents hard rock miners, disagreed. “The union is concerned about the use of the term seismic event to describe what happened,” Bill Shorten, national secretary of the union, told the May 16 Bulletin magazine. “This is not an event caused by the hand of God interfering with the crust of the earth. It is man-made.”

Webb, 37, and Russell, 35, were in an open work-cage 925 meters deep (3,034 feet), reinforcing shaft walls when the roof of their tunnel—and the roof of the one above it—collapsed. They were saved by their own welded reinforcements to the steel cage as a large slab of rock landed on top. Knight, 44, operating the machine at the rear, was killed instantly.

Fourteen miners working deeper escaped using a safety chamber. With three men missing, the rescue operation began.

Five days later the trapped men’s voices were heard under the rubble. Blasting was stopped. Through gaps in the rocks miners squeezed initial supplies to them.

The Beaconsfield Gold Mine opened in 1878 and closed in 1914 as unprofitable. However, new technologies and surging gold prices led to reopening the mine in 1999. The company employs 190 workers.

Deep rock mining is highly dangerous. Explosives used to tunnel may cause “seismic events.” Gold-bearing quartz can explode under stress. Last July, Beaconsfield residents complained mine blasting set off tremors, cracking walls.

Six months ago, a major rock fall forced closure of the level above the new disaster. With gold prices at a 25-year high, Beaconsfield Gold boasts of extracting “close to 100 percent” of the gold-filled ore by removing the pillars of unmined levels of rock that maintain the mine’s structure. These pillars are then replaced in some cases by cemented backfill, a practice criticized as unsafe by the AWU and miners.

The Tasmanian government, pressured by the AWU and a May 11 meeting of 68 Beaconsfield miners, is to convene a full inquiry into the disaster and mine safety. Currently, compliance with safety measures is by company “self-regulation,” not government enforcement. There have been 175 mining deaths nationwide since 1994.
 
 
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