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Still no news to report on the 2 trapped miners in the goldmine in Tasmania, except that their mates are trying to dig them out.

The poor buggers have been down there for 13/14 days now. One of their colleagues was unfortunately killed in the accident which was caused by an earth tremor in the surrounding area. It was at first thought that maybe they too were dead,but thank god not. The worlds media is in Tassie at the moment & I think it will be a real talking point for some time,very much like the Avalanche in NSW a few years ago.

Apparently when they finally get the all clear, they want Mcdonalds for their first proper meal........yuk must have forgotten how bad it tastes. !sickly!

seven.com.au/news/topstories/168962

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Yes Mick still down there & looks like it might be tomorrow Monday before they are finally free ,at least they are still healthy.

Just heard some very sad news see my latest expat post.

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Poor blokes are still in there if anyone is interested. Can't magine how awful it is,I get claustraphobic just sitting in the bog with the door closed :ph34r:

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What a great day for all miners everywhere & for the locals in Tasmania. They looked as though they had only been trapped for 14 hrs not 14 days.Must be a relief for everyone concerned. Now we will se what happens & see if they allow the gold mine to stay open. If it was me I certainly wouldn't want to go back down the mine again.

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I heard one Jacked in.

Did no realise till news this morning they were 'Gold Miners' not Coal Miners.

As a Health & safety Rep, I would be looking more closely at the circumstances of the incident. !rulez!

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With the amount of money the media are throwing at them Mick I don't think they will be worried about going to work again.

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Two things are always at the back of anyone who works underground, speaking from many years experience, being trapped in a major roof fall, and a fire underground!

A point Mick, I was told many years ago that the roof you should always be wary of, is good roof, bad roof you can make allowances for, ie, stay away from it.

I've seen some good falls in my time too, most, there was no logical explaination for except Mother Nature trying to fill a void made by man.

On low longwall coalfaces, there was a third danger we were scared of, convergance, thats when the roof starts to close up. Luckily, I never experienced that one, but blokes I worked with had at some time during their careers underground.

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If I worked in that job, I think Turnups may be back in Fashion? :rolleyes:

I was talking the Gold Mine bit ;)

Similar hazards in all type of underground mining Mick ;) Worked in gypsum at East Leake, in Potash in North Yorks, which incidently is still the deepest mine in Europe and worked in tin down at Renison Bell in Tasmania, 3000 feet below the surface.

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Sends shivers down my spine Ayup. Even though I went down Gedling years ago I wouldn't want to make a habit of it let alone a job! My dad was at Gedling during the war & so was my ex in the 80's,so it was great to have a look around,even though they had newly painted the walls for our visit!! The lift was a bit scarey too :Shock:

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Sends shivers down my spine Ayup. Even though I went down Gedling years ago I wouldn't want to make a habit of it let alone a job! My dad was at Gedling during the war & so was my ex in the 80's,so it was great to have a look around,even though they had newly painted the walls for our visit!! The lift was a bit scarey too :Shock:

It's funny Caz, we never gave danger a thought, it's there, your trained to deal with it and any situation that will arise.

When I first started with the National Coal Board, our instructors said " First we are going to train you to be miners, then your trade, in that order"

Our training consisted of setting supports, props and steel rings and rsj's, haulage, clipping onto "live ropes" thats steel rope haulages that are running! How to work safely around machinery and on faces without being a danger to oneself and others.

Even with all the training and experience I had, when I started in NSW I had to go through induction training at the JCB's place near Wollongong, then at Angus Place Colliery, they gave me another month of training, even though I'd been at a coastal pit for two and a half years and had almost 20 years in the industry!!

At Angus Place, one of the duties of the longwall face electrician, was to train miners on the operating of the shearer and hydraulic roof supports, I instructed dozens of miners on how to work those items. I also had my share of cutting coal etc at that pit!

The scariest mine I worked down was Boulby Mine in North Yorks. While I worked there several blokes were killed through no fault of their own, gas blow out killed one miner driver, side wall killed a collegue and very good friend plus a miner. In my district, a miner got decapitated in a sidewall fall, some 30 tonnes of rock!, the list went on. HM Mines Inspector in several cases stated it could not have been avoided and no blame could be placed on the companies safety rules. After each incident, the company would bring in tighter safety rules to help prevent another serious accident of that kind.

Problem was, we were in unknown ground! No other company had ever mined potash in the UK, and no other UK mine was at that depth, nor had encountered conditions we were in.

Riding in a cage was the safest part of going underground Caz B)

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  • 12 years later...

I read one of the trapped blokes book on their experiences of being trapped. They were both crammed into the space of a rabbit hutch & after every aftershock the space got a good shaking & it got a bit smaller, it was making me cringe as I read it. At least air was getting to them,  water was dripping onto them as well was making them cold... 

I worked down Morrgreen & Hucknall pits & always had a weird feeling when I was in a heading (a dead end tunnel with one way in & out) in case the roof came in behind me & I'd be trapped, the bagging (air supply pipe) would probably be destroyed & firedamp & blackdamp would build up to dangerous levels &, well you can imagine what would then happen... 

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