Two miners dead within days in Washington state

One death was reported Thursday at Capricorn Metals’ Carlawinda gold mine near Newman in the Pilbara region.

WorkSafe Mines safety inspectors and WA police visited the scene to investigate the incident.

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The workers are employees of mining contractor MACA, which said in a statement it was mobilizing senior officials to the site.

“Our thoughts are with our colleagues’ families, friends and colleagues.

“We offer support to our colleague’s family and team as they work through this tragic event.”

Capricorn Metals said mining operations had been temporarily halted.

“Everyone at Capricorn is shocked and saddened by the deaths at the Carla Winda mine site this morning,” Chairman Mark Clark said in a statement Thursday.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of MACA employees.”

The $175 million Karlawinda mine employs about 250 people and produced its first gold last June.

It was the second mining death in Washington state this week, after a contractor died Tuesday afternoon at Goldfields’ St. Ives site near Cambarda.

A second contractor also suffered minor injuries.

Stuart Mathews, executive vice president of Gold Fields Australasia, said the worker’s death was a “catastrophic loss” and all mining activity at the site had been halted.

The South African mining giant has launched an investigation into the incident and is cooperating with WA authorities.

However, the Australian Trade Union has complained that their representatives have not been granted proper access to the site since the tragedy.

NCA NewsWire understands union representatives will have access on Friday.

“All workers should go to work and return safely to their families. There are too many workplace deaths,” the union said.

WorkSafe Commissioner Darren Kavanagh said the work-related death was a tragedy and expressed condolences to all involved.

“Worksafe is unable to provide details of either fatality at this time,” a statement read Thursday.

The incident follows the death of 25-year-old David Armstrong last September after a ground collapse occurred at Fortescue Metals Group’s Solomons hub operations in the Pilbara area.

A few weeks ago, a 52-year-old man fell to his death at CITIC Pacific Mining’s Sino Iron mine, about 100km south of Karratha.

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Angie Raphael has nearly 20 years of experience as a journalist. Angie started her career in local and community newspapers and in Australia she worked for the AP for 10 years before she joined the NCA Ne… read more

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