Trapped miner to be reunited with family

A West Australian miner owes his life to an underground rescue chamber where he
found refuge as hundreds of tonnes of rock tumbled and crashed around him.
BHP Billiton's Nickle West president Wayne Isaacs told reporters in Perth on
Thursday of rescuers' desperate efforts to reach the 38-year-old man, who was
trapped about a kilometre underground for 16 hours.
Emergency crews worked through the night to rescue the miner after a "seismic event"
sparked the rockfall on Wednesday afternoon at the Nickel West Perseverance mine at
Leinster, 370km north of Kalgoorlie.
Up to 500 tonnes of rock fell around the miner and a fellow worker loading ore,
blocking the tunnel entrance.
The other miner, along with another 70 workers who were underground at the time,
managed to escape to the surface uninjured.
The rescued miner, who has not been named and reportedly wants to remain anonymous,
reached the safety of a purpose-built refuge station about 100 metres from the
rockfall.
He remained in the small chamber, designed to accommodate several people, from
2.30pm (WST) until his rescue the following day at 6.30am (WST).
Mr Isaacs said he had access to electricity, water and oxygen, and fresh air could
reach the chamber.
He said no comparison could be drawn with the tragic Beaconsfield mine disaster in
Tasmania in 2006, in which miner Larry Knight was killed and two other miners were
trapped for two weeks.
"Leinster is a large underground operation with an expansive area of mine operating
tunnels underground," Mr Isaacs said.
"He was working with another individual and they were loading some ore from ore
passes on that level when some 400 to 500 tonnes of material fell and blocked the
entry way."
The small earth tremor, which measured 1.1 on the Richter scale, was described by WA
Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore as an "act of God".
He said the man was fortunate to escape an incident "that could have ended in tragedy".
"I'm very relieved it didn't happen that way," Mr Moore said.
He said Department of Mines inspectors were investigating the incident, which
follows a string of health and safety incidents involving the world's largest mining
company.
In the past 10 months, five workers have died on BHP Billiton iron ore sites in the
Pilbara, sparking calls from unions for improved safety practices.
Mr Moore said the incidents had already led to plans to overhaul the mining industry
and introduce more safety inspectors.
Mr Isaacs agreed the company's safety record was "unacceptable".
He said the Leinster mine site had closed while the incident was investigated and
would not reopen for "several" days.
The rescued miner returned to Perth on Thursday afternoon to be reunited with his
wife and four-year-old child.
He had worked underground at the site for about three years and was "very
experienced" as a bogger, or earth mover, Mr Isaacs said.
"I met him this morning and he is in a very good state of mind," he said.
"I think he did a textbook job in handling this event and kept very calm and
assisted in the recovery effort by inspecting the site."