Two mineworkers have been confirmed dead following a collapse at a zinc mine in Queensland at 8.55 am local time on Wednesday 15 February 2023. Dylan Langridge, 33, and Trevor Davis, 36, were working at the Dugald River Mine near Cloncurry when the incident happened. The men were reportedly driving in a light vehicle 125 m below ground when a void opened up beneath them, into which their vehicle, and a drill rig following them, fell. The driver of the drill rig was able to escape with minor injuries, but Langridge and Davis were buried by rocks and debris, and their bodies not recovered until the following day, 25 m below the level where they disappeared.
The fatalities are understood to have been caused by the collapse of part of an access tunnel into a stope (large underground cavern created by ore-extraction),. Operations at the mine have now ceased pending an investigation into the incident. Mining safety remains a cause of concern in Queensland, and elsewhere in Australia, due to the number of fatalities occurring within mines. The nation's mining companies have repeatedly insisted that safety at mines is a high priority, while groups representing miners claim it is often difficult for workers to raise concerns about safety issues, and that individuals who do so often run the risk of reprisals.
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