Six teams took part in the first stage of the QMRS three-competition year with North Goonyella coming second and Newlands finishing third.

Anglo Coal’s Grasstree mine, Caledon's Cook Colliery and the Bundoora-Aquila joint effort all had teams in the mine rescue competition.

The day went well despite a late start due to operational problems at Moranbah, according to QMRS operations manager Lindsay Creighton.

The Bundoora-Aquila team came fourth in the competition and also won the George Carbine memorial shield for excellence in first aid.

The competitors were put through their paces on Saturday with the competition testing different facets of a mine rescue, including a three-hour underground exercise, first aid, theory and a fire simulation.

The miners’ underground skills were put to the test when they had to map an area of the mine to a standard which was assessed, erect a stopping and navigate to a remote location and take bag samples.

All tasks were done under breathing apparatus.

Creighton said a majority of the teams performed to a good standard and the end scores were not far apart.

He said the purpose of the competition was to point the QMRS in the right direction of where it should be directing its resources.

“It gives an audit on our guys on what their skill level is,” Creighton told International Longwall News.

“It helps us with our training needs analysis to determine what areas within our training regime need to be beefed up and supplemented.”

The top four teams from the Memorial Cup will go on to the EK Healy Cup which will be held at Crinum on September 4 this year.

The top four teams from the EK Healy Cup will go on to the national competition which is set to be held at the Kestrel Mine on October 17.

Earlier this week ILN reported the QMRS team, made up of miners from Moranbah North, returned victorious from the US taking out the International Mine Rescue Competition championship.