All personnel have been declared safe and accounted for after a small, contained underground fire was reported at Anglo American’s Moranbah North mine in Queensland.
The incident occurred on Monday afternoon, with high levels of carbon monoxide detected in the mine. An Anglo representative confirmed shortly afterwards that no injuries were recorded.
“The underground environment is under continuous monitoring and this indicates a stable atmosphere,” a spokesperson said at the time.
“All personnel are safe. The health and safety of our people is paramount and an orderly evacuation to the surface was safely completed, according to our action response plan.”
Since the incident, Resources Safety Health Queensland (RSHQ) has suspended re-entry to the mine.
“Information to date suggests it’s likely an explosion has occurred within the mine,” RSHQ acting chief inspector of coal mines Laurie Crisp said.
According to Crisp, RSHQ inspectors have been assisting Anglo American on site to determine the cause of the event and ensure relevant controls are in place to ensure the safety of staff.
“The number one priority for our inspectors is always the health and safety of workers on site,” he said.
Anglo American said data indicated a small, contained ignition occurred in the goaf, and that the ignition did not spread to the longwall face.
“We activated our action response plan after elevated carbon monoxide readings were detected in the goaf,” an Anglo spokesperson said.
“Goaf conditions normalised shortly after the incident occurred and remain stable. Monitoring of the underground environment is continuing.”
Anglo American is selling Moranbah North, along with three other Bowen-Basin mines, to Peabody Energy in a $5.7 billion deal expected to complete later this year.
The company has said that it is keeping the workforce informed, assuring that all employees and embedded contractors will continue to be paid.
“Our next steps are working with RSHQ to investigate the incident and to then work towards re-entry and restart once it is safe to do so,” Anglo said.
An investigation is still underway at Anglo’s Grosvenor coal mine to determine the cause of a fire that has left the mine out of action since July last year.
Experts have been reviewing what is reported to be more than 90,000 pieces of data, with Anglo and the Mining and Energy Union working together to determine not only how the fire occurred, but whether it would support a reopening of the mine.
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