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Roof support incident halts Spring Creek development

DEVELOPMENT at Solid Energy's troubled Spring Creek mine in New Zealand has once again ground to ...

Lou Caruana
Roof support incident halts Spring Creek development

The injured mineworker was a member of a team installing roof supports in a recently formed underground tunnel area when the incident occurred at about 2am on Wednesday morning, Solid Energy said in a statement.

It said the worker was treated at Christchurch Hospital.

“The incident is still being investigated but it appears a lump of coal fell to the floor nearby and knocked him down as it toppled over,” Solid Energy said.

Following notification, inspectors from the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment’s High Hazards Unit visited the mine and issued a prohibition notice after inspecting the work area and discussions with mine management and members of the underground workforce.

Solid Energy group manager coal operations Larry Hull said: “We’re obviously very concerned that one of our people has been hurt. Prior to the inspectors’ decision the mine’s management team had already ceased underground face operations and had begun a risk assessment and review of all relevant operating procedures and job safety checklists.

“If any changes are needed as a result of those reviews, the underground mining teams and supervisors will take part in refresher training before work resumes.”

A protracted development phase for Spring Creek contributed to an 8% plunge in production for Solid Energy in the June quarter to 936,000 tonnes.

Production at Spring Creek mine for the year was down 40% at 240,000t with last coal being extracted in January 2012 as the mine develops the next five-year extraction block.

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