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Explosives truck in mine sinkhole sparks WA incident report

 

The Western Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has released details of an October incident that saw an explosives truck at the bottom of a sinkhole.

The 13 metre subsidence occurred in the floor of an unnamed open pit mine and also involved a surface drill.

The vehicles were unoccupied at the time of collapse, though four workers were in close proximity.

The event occurred in a stope, an excavation in a mine or quarry in the form of a step or notch.


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“The stope had previously self-mined to near surface and had been backfilled in stages since 2016,” Significant Incident Report No. 272 states.

It adds that at the time of subsidence,” the backfilled underground workings were not treated as a void allowing work to be undertaken above an area of unknown stability”.

A WAtoday report states the mine is north of Geraldton.

There are no details on how the vehicles were removed.

 

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