Two miners died 9 a.m. Monday morning at Vendata’s underground copper mine Mt. Lyell, reports The Advocate.
The deceased were maintenance crew members aged 25 and 45. Rescuers attended the accident scene. Mine operations have been suspended.
Neither details of the accident nor the miners’ names were released.
The Premier of Tasmania Lara Giddings offered condolences:
Condolences to the family, friends and work colleagues of the two men who died today in the Mt Lyell Mine in Queenstown. Such a tragedy.
— Lara Giddings (@LaraGiddings) December 9, 2013
The mine’s management released a statement.
“Our deepest sympathies are with the families of the two workers, their immediate work mates and also our other site employees who will be saddened by this tragic accident,” said Copper Mines of Tasmania general manager Scot Clyde.
“We are offering support and counselling to the families and all of our people.”
Mt Lyell operations are carried out at 1000 m. The mine production is about 2.7 million tonnes per annum of copper ore at 1.25% copper grade.
Copper Mines of Tasmania is part of the Vendata group.