Australian Uranium Mine Shut Down After Man Killed, page 1

A Uranium mine was evacuated and shut down after a 30 year old worker, Karl Eibi, was killed by explosives at the BHP owned Roxby Downs, in South Australia. The underground operation is now the subject of an investigation into the incident and has been shut down indefinitely. The fatality is the 17th recored by BHP Billiton at it's operations within the last year.

www.abc.net.au
ELEANOR HALL: The Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia remains closed today as investigators try to determine the cause of an underground explosion which killed a 30-year old man yesterday afternoon.

The mine was evacuated after the incident and the State's Department of Workplace Services has now shut down operations indefinitely. BHP Billiton which took control of the mine at Roxby Downs last month, is said to be treating the accident very seriously.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

This is not only serious for the events of the accident but also for future safety issues within a highly toxic dangerous environment. Underground mining has proven to be dangerous even with the advances of modern man but to add with that danger, the added danger of explosives within a radioactive environment heightens the potential for horrific outcomes of accidents.

Not much of this, if anything has been reported in any of the headlines or high exposure media. It has been very quiet on this incident and I only stumbled upon this articles from tiny fine print at the bottom of another news article I was reading.

[edit on 24-7-2005 by asala]