Coal news and updates

 

Two men, aged 35 and 49, have died at a coal mine collapse in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, Fairfax reports.

 

According to the news service, the incident happened about 9.30pm Tuesday at the Austar coal mine at Paxton, south of Cessnock.

 

The men were among a group 500m below the surface and 10km along the mine, Fairfax reports, when a wall collapsed. Six other workers, who tried to help the injured men, were able to exit the mine safely.

 

Yancoal said mining operations had been suspended as it worked with authorities to investigate the incident while the district secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, Grahame Kelly told Fairfax that the mine had been "operating well" prior to the incident.

 

 

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/