Victoria’s mining regulator has put a Ballarat gold mine operator on notice, six months after a tunnel collapsed without warning under the regional city.
Key points:
- Victoria’s mine regulator is conducting a “fit and proper” assessment of the mine’s licensee
- The assessment comes months after a tunnel collapsed without warning
- Former staff say they have raised safety concerns with management for months
Documents seen by the ABC reveal 600 tonnes of rock material collapsed in March into a tunnel at the mine, which operates around the clock underneath suburban Ballarat.
The tunnel collapse occurred during an afternoon shift change, hours after a fitter had been working in the same location.
Former staff have told the ABC it was “dumb luck this wasn’t a fatality”.
The accident trapped a jumbo drilling rig worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and prompted a series of site visits from WorkSafe inspectors.
Now, the state’s mining regulator has revealed it is conducting a “fit and proper” assessment of the mine’s licensee and operator, Balmaine Gold.
The subsidiary of the Singapore-based Golden Point Group, whose parent company is Shen Yao Holdings, took control of the mine in 2019 and was formerly known as Castlemaine Gold.
“We’re examining the competency of the licensee to run a mine, their status as fit and proper, and their ability to meet their site rehabilitation liabilities,” Earth Resources Regulation executive director Anthony Hurst said in a statement.
“We’re working to ensure the risks associated with mining at the Ballarat site are minimised and the necessary controls are in place.”
ABC Ballarat: Sarah Jane Bell
)Mine without supervision staff for months
An internal company report into the tunnel collapse seen by the ABC has revealed “the ground started to deteriorate” in the weeks after the tunnel was drilled but that this “was not identified”.
The report made 14 recommendations, arguing for changes to improve ground support in the wake of the collapse and for the company to “employ more staff”.
At the time of the collapse, the mine had been without a foreman for almost six months.
The supervisor typically works to ensure important information from geologists and engineers is communicated to underground crews.
“A new underground foreman is commencing shortly to fill the role vacant since September 2020,” the report states.
It also recommended the company “map major structures”, which is “traditionally done by the geologists but not recently due to staffing issues”.
AAP: Theron Kirkman
)Neither Balmaine Gold nor Golden Point Group were available for an interview, nor did they respond to detailed questions from the ABC about the tunnel collapse or mine safety.
In a statement, a spokeswoman said that “providing a safe work environment for all site personnel” was a priority, and that “the site operates within all regulatory and government body requirements”.
Long-standing safety issues
Ballarat’s gold mine supports around 220 direct employees and contractors.
The ABC has spoken with almost a dozen former staff who have raised concerns about the turnover of senior employees at the mine, which has continued to operate despite key positions being vacant for months at a time.
The ABC understands the mine almost doubled its development rate — the amount of tunnel drilled per month — between August 2020 and April 2021, at a time when the mine was without key supervisor positions on site.
Former staff say they repeatedly raised concerns about the safety of the mine’s operations in the lead-up to the tunnel collapse.
One former employee said the mine was “challenging geologically and geotechnically to operate, even when managed by a team of experienced professionals”.
Several employees are locked in industrial disputes over unfair dismissal allegations and others have declined to comment for fear of breaching employment contracts.
Probe will examine management team
Earth Resources Regulation said it would look at the company’s overall capacity for mining as part of its “fit and proper” assessment.
“Under the state’s mining law, the directors and senior management of mines must meet the requirement of being considered a fit and proper person to hold a mining licence in Victoria,” a spokesman for the regulator said in a statement.
“The factors that can be considered include a person’s past conduct and whether they have overseen a company that has gone into administration or has failed to comply with natural resource, environmental or worker safety regulations.”
The regulator said the “professional reputation, competence, diligence and judgment of Balmaine Gold as the licensee will also be considered”.
Balmaine Gold will also be required to prepare an independent rehabilitation liability assessment to prove it has an understanding of the site’s rehabilitation requirements.
In May, the company was found to be dumping rock waste in a manner that “exceeded the company’s site approvals”.
It was issued with a notice by Earth Resources Regulation to implement a plan to control the risks associated with the rock dump and “utilise other areas which have been approved to store waste rock”.
WorkSafe prosecutors not investigating
WorkSafe declined to respond to questions from the ABC over the safety of the mine, but the ABC understands the workplace regulator is not investigating the company over the tunnel collapse.
It issued a compliance notice in the wake of the March incident but it would not confirm the nature of the notice nor whether the company had since complied with it.
WorkSafe issued another notice this month requiring the gold mine to hire a mine manager within six weeks.
In the event the mine does not comply, WorkSafe will be entitled to take further enforcement action.
