But according to miners, these recommendations were not implemented in the section of the mine where three months later, on April 25, a massive rock fall killed Larry Knight and nearly took the lives of two other miners, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, who were entombed one kilometer underground for two weeks. A marathon rescue effort by fellow miners made international headlines as they finally freed the two trapped miners.

A confidential report from January was revealed in the October 7 Australian, a national daily, in a front-page article headlined “Mine had ample cave-in warning.” The investigation was commissioned by mine bosses after a rock-fall last October near the subsequent fatal roof collapse. Work was suspended in the area for a time.

The report, by AMC Consultants geo-technical engineer Glenn Sharrock, said the damage to those sections of the mine “extends beyond the support capacity.” Sharrock warned of “the potential… for further large and damaging seismic events” caused by mining activities and “unfavorable mine geometry.” Sharrock recommended strengthened roof supports, such as six-meter cable bolts. The report also urged a new safer method of “checker-boarding,” leaving larger un-mined layers between mine tunnels, “to reduce the chances” of “fault slip… in the future.”

A company spokesperson denied that Beaconsfield did not implement all the report’s recommendations, saying larger cone bolts were not “specifically recommended” for level 925 where the fatal fall occurred.

Some miners told the Australian that the size of floor separations had been reduced as the gold seam became richer. As a result, the vertical floor-to-floor distance was cut from 25 meters at higher levels of the mine to only 10 meters at the 925-meter level.

Mick Borrill, a drill operator who worked in that section, said mine managers ignored pleas by miners to leave support pillars in place, saying “there’s too much gold there.”

Mine owners refused to comment on the release of the report, claiming the matter was still before an inquiry and the coroner.

Alasdair Macdonald contributed to this article.
 
 
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