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Tag: Grosvenor

View into the goaf from the tailgate roadway after the serious accident

Decision pending on potential Grosvenor blast charges

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

The independent Work Health and Safety Prosecutor will determine any potential charges to be laid as a result of the serious accident at Grosvenor mine last year after investigations wrap up, authorities say.

Resources Safety and Health Queensland said today the Queensland Mines Inspectorate’s investigation of the incident at the Moranbah mine was nearing completion.

Five men were seriously injured in a blast at the Anglo American mine on May 6, 2020, sparking the Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry into a string of methane exceedances at underground coal mines in the Bowen Basin.

Its final report, tabled in. . .

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Grosvenor workers ‘seriously let down’ on safety – union

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal, Energy, Processing / Manufacturing.

The Coal Mining Board of Inquiry’s final report paints a shocking picture of safety management at Anglo’s Grosvenor mine, the CFMEU says.

CFMEU Mining and Energy Queensland president Stephen Smyth welcomed the release of the comprehensive report after an investigation sparked by an explosion at that mine last year.

He said the union would review all its findings and recommendations in the days and weeks ahead.

Mr Smyth said the most shocking thing to come out of the report was the detailed account of Anglo’s failure to manage dangerous gases at Grosvenor in the months leading up. . .

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Report highlights Grosvenor failings in lead-up to blast

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal, Processing / Manufacturing.

Coal mine workers at the Grosvenor longwall panel at the centre of last year's blast were repeatedly subjected to an unacceptable level of risk, an inquiry has found.

The Moranbah operation produced coal at a rate that consistently exceeded the capacity of gas drainage measures at the longwall panel involved, the Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry report tabled in State Parliament today stated.

The inquiry also found that the Queensland Mines Inspectorate did not have complete information about the conditions under which mining operations were being conducted at that longwall.

Even allowing for that, the Inspectorate did not. . .

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Moranbah North back in business

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

Longwall mining operations have restarted at Moranbah North mine, with production expected to ramp up over coming weeks.

Mine owner Anglo American said also that mining development activities at the Grosvenor mine had safely resumed this week, as part of a staged approach to restarting longwall mining operations later this year.

Operations at Moranbah North Mine were suspended on February 20 following the identification of a coal heating issue, while Grosvenor went offline after a blast injured five men in May last year.

Chief executive officer of Anglo American’s Metallurgical Coal business, Tyler Mitchelson, said the milestones this week. . .

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Grosvenor blast report before Resources Minister

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry established after last year's Grosvenor mine blast has provided Part II of its report to Resources Minister Scott Stewart.

Not yet available to the public, Part II sets out the Board’s findings and recommendations on the cause of the serious accident that occurred at Grosvenor mine on May 6, 2020, injuring five men, and 27 methane exceedance high potential incidents in the lead-up to that event.

The Board has also flagged that the report includes findings and recommendations on labour hire arrangements, the roles of site and industry safety and. . .

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Staged re-entry begins at Grosvenor

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal, Processing / Manufacturing.

A Grosvenor mine team has commenced a re-entry process to the underground workings at the Moranbah district longwall operation, almost a year after the explosion that left five men seriously injured.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry that is tasked with investigating that May 6, 2020 incident and a string of other methane exceedances at underground coal mines is due to provide a report to Resources Minister Scott Stewart at the end of next month after a recent round of public hearings.

Chief executive officer of Anglo American’s metallurgical coal business, Tyler Mitchelson, said the re-entry. . .

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Inquiry hears of ongoing issues, methane ‘bubbling up’

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

Workers' concerns about issues at the longwall face involved in the May 6 explosion at Grosvenor were not always dealt with satisfactorily by mine management, injured miner Wayne Sellars has told a safety inquiry.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry heard that the Bowen Basin longwall operation was mining into a significant fault in the lead-up to the incident last year, with problems including roof stability.

. . .

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Mine worker shares account of horror underground blast

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

Injured mine worker Wayne Sellars has told of a pressure wave that felt 'like standing in a cyclone' before the underground blast at Grosvenor that left him fleeing the scene 'on fire'.

Mr Sellars received burns to 70 per cent of his body in the May 6 incident, which also left four of his fellow workers seriously injured.

He has undergone 10 surgeries to date and still faces more operations this year to reconstruct his damaged ear and hands.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry was set up to investigate the. . .

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Injured miner to appear as Grosvenor inquiry resumes

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal, Energy.

One of the five men injured in the Grosvenor blast in May last year will be among the witnesses to take the stand when the Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry resumes public hearings.

Mine worker Wayne Sellars is due to testify on April 7, along with Simtars principal engineer Bipin Parmar.

Board of Inquiry chair Terry Martin adjourned the public hearings until after the Easter break when a COVID-19 lockdown for the Greater Brisbane area was announced earlier this week.

The public hearings are live streamed from the. . .

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Inquiry continues to probe Grosvenor blast

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

Forensic fire investigator Murray Nystrom has told a mine safety inquiry that the temperature of the flame front in the Grosvenor longwall blast would have been between 200 degrees and several hundred degrees Celsius.

The flame front, described as momentary, was believed to have entered the longwall at about chock 111, he said.

Mr Nystrom this week outlined how he had reached his conclusions on flame intensity and direction from observations including clothing and equipment from the workers in the area.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry is investigating the serious accident at Anglo American's Grosvenor mine near. . .

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Grosvenor coal mine Anglo American

Resin potential factor in Grosvenor blast

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

The use of a large quantity of polyurethane resin to consolidate the face and roof at longwall 104 is among the issues an inquiry will examine as it looks to determine the cause of the Grosvenor mine explosion.

Counsel assisting the Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry Jeffrey Hunter said it would be raised as a potential source of ignition for the May 6 blast that injured five men.

Mixing of the components causing the polyurethane resin (PUR) toexpand and harden leads to an . . .

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Inquiry into Grosvenor Mine explosion sits again

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal, Energy.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry will begin a second round of public hearings in Brisbane tomorrow (Tues 9 March).

The Board of Inquiry was established to look into the underground explosion at Anglo American’s Grosvenor mine on 6 May last year, as well as various high-potential incidents involving methane limits exceeded in other longwall mines in the year. . .

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Board of Inquiry to resume hearings next month

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry is gearing up for a second round of public hearings at the Brisbane Magistrates Court next month.

The hearings from March 9 will focus on the Grosvenor mine near Moranbah, where a blast last year seriously injured five men.

The evidence will relate to that serious accident on May 6 2020 and the 27 methane exceedances at longwalls 103 and 104 that occurred between July 1, 2019 and May 5, 2020.

Evidence relating to the continuous inertisation of goafs will also be considered during these hearings.

The Board last year requested an amendment. . .

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Anglo active in addressing mine safety concerns

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

Anglo American says it is continuing to respond to the Grosvenor mine gas incident, which left five men injured, including through investing in the acceleration of technology to improve safety in underground mining.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry established to look into the May 6 underground explosion published Part 1 of its report online this week (available HERE).

Anglo American metallurgical coal business chief executive officer Tyler Mitchelson said the company had looked at every. . .

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Board of Inquiry delivers early findings

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal.

A key coal mining safety report has highlighted the need to transform the Queensland Mines Inspectorate into 'an employer of choice' and for companies to better recognise the seriousness of methane exceedances.

The Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry was established to look into an underground explosion which injured five men at Anglo American's Grosvenor mine on May 6, as well as various high potential incidents involving exceedances of methane limits in other longwall mines.

It published Part 1 of its report online this week (. . .

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Axe falls on 100 jobs at troubled coal mine

Written by dev on . Posted in All News, Coal, Energy.

Anglo American will cut about 100 jobs at the Grosvenor mine, five months after an explosion that injured five men and brought longwall operations to a halt.

Expressions of interest for voluntary redundancies have been open at the site for the last few weeks.

CFMEU Mining and Energy district president Stephen Smyth has used the job cuts to again blast the practice of casualisation and outsourcing, which he said made it easier for companies like Anglo to simply discard workers when they were not wanted anymore. 

“All of us in the industry have been shaken by the terrible events of. . .

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