An underground mining contractor has been fined $540,000—and ordered to pay $8,414 in costs—after an October 2022 rock fall in a ventilation shaft at the Hamlet Underground Gold Mine near Kambalda, which killed a driller and injured a probationary offsider.
On 5 September, RUC Mining Contractors Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court to two counts of the same offence—exposing a worker to a risk of death, injury or harm to health, contrary to sections 19(1) and 32(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2020. Although the charges didn’t allege that the breaches caused the fatal incident, they reflected failings in risk management. Magistrate William Yoo imposed on RUC Mining Contractors, which Gold Fields Australia Pty Ltd engaged to conduct raise bore-drilling work at the Hamlet Underground Gold Mine—part of its St Ives Gold Mine—a single fine of $540,000 for the two counts.
There’s an information sheet that advises how to reduce the risks associated with raise-boring activities in underground mines.
