South32 has been slapped with a prohibition notice by the state’s resource regulator after near-explosive gas levels were detected at its Appin mine – for the second time in seven months – on Sunday.
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The incident, regarding the withdrawal of workers following a “methane gas exceedance event”, occurred between 10pm and 11pm.
A regulator spokesman said inspectors visited the mine on Monday and were looking into the cause of the high methane levels and “the processes in place to withdraw workers”.
“A statutory notice has also been issued which prohibits workers from entering the underground workings of the mine except to carry out safety related inspections and maintenance work necessary to maintain the mine in a safe condition,” the spokesman said.
“This notice will remain in place until mine safety inspectors are satisfied additional satisfactory risk controls have been put into place to ensure workers at the mine are not exposed to risk from the presence of methane gas.”
The CFMEU has blasted the company over the incident and claimed the methane level hit a dangerously high reading of just 0.7 per cent below the “explosive range”.
“It’s a major concern to us that there’s been another major failure in the gas monitoring system at Appin,” the union’s district vice president Bob Timbs said.
“At [a gas reading of ] two per cent they should have shut down all mining processes and evacuated the mine.
“They didn’t and they allowed it to build up to 4.3 [per cent]. The explosive range for methane is between five and 14 per cent.”
In late October, operations at Appin ceased after a ventilation fan cut out, resulting in a peak methane reading of 4.73 per cent.
South32 was contacted for comment.