Published Thursday, 17 January, 2008 at 05:11 PM
Minister for Mines and Energy
The Honourable Geoff Wilson
TRAGIC ACCIDENT UNDERGROUND IN NORTH WEST MINE
Acting Mines and Energy Minister Rod Welford confirmed he had been advised this afternoon of a fatal accident underground at the BHP Billiton Cannington mine, south east of Mount Isa.
“We offer our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased miner at this time,” Mr Welford said.
Mr Welford said an investigation team from the department’s Mines Inspectorate and the Queensland Police would travel to site this afternoon (17 January) to begin investigations.
“This is a tragic loss of life. It’s important to identify what went wrong - we will be finding out not only how it happened, but why it happened.”
Mr Welford said it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.
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