Victoria’s health and safety regulator has charged two mining companies over a fatal rockfall at the Ballarat Gold Mine in Mount Clear in March 2024.
WorkSafe Victoria charged Victory Minerals, which took control of the mine in 2023, and Carr Mining Services for failing to provide or maintain a safe working environment.
WorkSafe alleges both companies breached the Occupational Health and Safety Act by failing to provide a safe system of work that required ground support to be installed in the section of the mine where the air leg mining works were occurring.
The regulator further alleged that both companies failed to supervise workers to ensure adequate ground supports were installed in the section of the mine during its development.
The matter is listed for a filing hearing at the Ballarat Magistrates Court on December 18.
Thirty people were working underground at the Ballarat Gold Mine when the collapse occurred on March 13, 2024.
Kurt Hourigan, 37, died and Connor Smith, 21, was critically injured when the section of mine they were working in collapsed 500 metres underground.
The miners were engaging in “air legging”, a dangerous manual drilling technique on unsupported ground, when the rockfall occurred.
The Australian Workers Union welcomed the charges but believes the case “demands more” and that the evidence gathered under the investigation should be enough to “pursue the most serious charges available”.
The union pointed out that in 2023, a geotechnical engineer warned mine management that reintroducing air legging without adequate ground support could lead to rockfall-related injuries.
An internal memo from the mine’s previous operator dismissed the warning, citing cost concerns as the reason for abandoning basic safety measures.
The union is calling for senior decision makers in the company to be held accountable and said WorkSafe has the evidence to pursue industrial manslaughter charges.
AWU Victorian Branch President and lead country organiser, Ross Kenna said: “The people who made those decisions need to be held personally accountable under industrial manslaughter laws.
“We support WorkSafe’s work to gather all the evidence needed, and we urge them to pursue the charges this case demands.”
