Two mining companies have been charged after a father was killed and a young man suffered critical injuries when they were pinned by rocks 500m underground.
Kurt Hourigan, 37, and Connor Smith, 21, were caught in the rockfall at the Ballarat Gold Mine in Mount Clear, Victoria in March 2024.
Twenty-nine miners were rescued but Hourigan, a father-of-two, was killed, and Smith was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries, including crushed legs.
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The miners were completing a task called air legging, which is when workers use a handheld machine that is powered by compressed air and water.
At the time union officials described the technique as a risky way of mining for gold.
“They should not have been doing that task in that mine,” Australian Workers Union Victoria secretary Ronnie Hayden said.
WorkSafe Victoria has now charged Victory Minerals, which took ownership of the gold mine in December 2023, and Carr Mining Services over the fatal incident.
The safety watchdog alleges both companies did not provide a safe system of work by failing to install ground support in the section of the mine where the air leg mining works were taking place.
“It is further alleged both companies breached section 21(2)(e) of the OHS Act by failing to supervise workers to ensure adequate ground supports were installed in the section of the mine during its development,” WorkSafe said.
At the time Hayden said air legging should only be used to investigate the ground.
“Say in tunnelling, for example, they’d use (air legging) to put anchors into the rocks to hold the rocks back. They were actually using it to create a tunnel to work into to chase the gold.
“The information we’re getting back is that this was a quick, cheap and easy way to chase gold.”
The matter is listed for a filing hearing at Ballarat Magistrates Court on December 18.
