Mine: Blasting reckless

THE Beaconsfield mine management was “reckless” in its blasting practices, says a local resident who had been complaining about mining-related seismic activity for four months prior to last week’s cave-in.

“Not once but twice the mine placed seismic recording devices in my home, which showed that it was routinely subjected to mining induced earthquakes measuring up to 2.1 on the Richter Scale,” local resident Mick Wain said. “I am simply staggered that the mine can do this up to four times a day and not be breaking mining guidelines.”

Wain told Crikey he had advised mine management that his home was being damaged and he was sick of having it “incrementally demolished.” After raising his concerns with a local councillor, Les Rochester, Wain was informed that the council would meet mine management about the problem.

Rochester said an in-camera meeting between mine management, West Tamar Council and local member Michael Polley took place on February 15 .”The meeting was addressed by mine manager Matthew Gill, with the mine agreeing to repair damaged homes,” Mr Rochester said. “I couldn’t believe it when Mr Gill claimed his engineers said most of the homes affected were of sub-standard construction.”

“I demanded to know if that was from when they were built, or now, as a result of mining, but he wouldn’t give me an answer.”

Another source said Mr Gill had informed the meeting that some mine workers had raised safety concerns about the increased frequency of seismic activity due to a new blasting technique. “I was astounded that such an important meeting was held behind closed doors because it was deemed to be detrimental to house prices and the mine’s public image,” he said. “It all comes back to the blasting process because after an explosion there isn’t a set timeframe for a seismic event.”

“They blast at one end of the tunnel, leave it for a while and then go back. The problem is that a tremor could occur immediately or a month later, the mine has the equipment to know which blast causes what earthquake. Unfortunately one blast triggered a simultaneous seismic event and a cave in was the end result.”

Mine management was unavailable for comment, but local member Michael Polley said he attended the meeting to be better briefed about structural damage occurring to buildings in Beaconsfield. “I was in favour of a public meeting and one was held on March 2nd at the local community centre.” Mr Polley said he couldn’t recollect if miner safety had been discussed at the meeting.

“What I want to know is what does the February 15 meeting mean for duty of care with regard to the council, regarding a lack of action, and will the coroner look at that aspect?” said Rochester. “In addition what is the exposure for West Tamar Council ratepayers and liability in general?”

And,

A kilometre underground, life is hot, damp and dangerous

So how does it feel to be stranded 1km down a mineshaft? Hot, damp and very dangerous, says John Langerak, a retired European coal miner now living in Launceston.

Speaking outside the Beaconsfield mine yesterday, he said it took a special type of person to be an underground miner. “I only did it for three years and that was enough for me, so it must be 50 times worse being stuck down there for nearly a week in humid darkness, not knowing what was going on above you.”

“People think that the deeper you dig the colder it gets but they are wrong. It’s actually warmer. Past 1000m things get wetter and generally more uncomfortable. It’s very damp and humid with water seeping out of the walls, ceiling and sometimes even the floor.”

Mr Langerak stressed that just because it was wet didn’t mean it was muddy or cold. “The water comes out of solid rock and the air temperature is always around 30 degrees. There are often mineral deposits that look like coloured icicles which seem to just grow out of the tunnel walls because of the seepage.”

“People have this mental picture of a mine as a vertical shaft with a series of horizontal tunnels running off them. Beaconsfield isn’t like that as the lower levels zig-zag downwards with tunnels running off all over the place. It’s like a rabbit warren, from what I have been told.”

“After the cave-in it would probably be eerily quiet, with just the sound of water dripping down the walls and your own heavy breathing. I don’t know if they have their battery packs with them to provide light, because otherwise it would be totally dark as well.

“It’s a good thing there are two of them because they should be able to keep each other’s spirits up with talk of family and what they want to do when they get out.”