Department of Labour – Response on Huntly East Mine

MEDIA RELEASE
30 NOVEMBER 2011

Department of Labour – Response on Huntly East Mine

This statement should be attributed to Brett Murray – General Manager, National Services and Support.

The Health and Safety in Employment Act places responsibility for mine safety firmly on the mine owners.

Solid Energy’s systems at the Huntly East mine appear to have adequately identified and managed the post-incident response to the recent methane spike.

However, the Department of Labour is investigating the circumstances that led to the spike in methane levels. The Department issued an improvement notice to the mine late last week and an inspector will be following up the notice at the mine tomorrow. The inspector has also requested to meet health and safety staff representatives at the mine tomorrow. The improvement notice relates to ventilation management systems and has immediate effect.

ENDS

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