Fatality statistics in the Western Australian mining industry | |
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Location | |
State | Western Australia |
Country | Australia |
Regulatory authority | |
Authority | Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety |
Website | http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/index.aspx |
Fatality statistics in the Western Australian mining industry captures the number of people killed in the industry in the Australian state of Western Australia. During the period 2000-2012 (inclusive), a total of 52 fatalities occurred. [1] In 2006, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia commissioned a taxonomic study to analyse the 306 mining fatalities which occurred between 1970 and 2006. [2] The Department of Mines and Petroleum, later renamed the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, the governing authority for the industry in the state, has published statistics for fatalities in mining dating back to 1943 and intends to publish statistics dating back to 1886, though early records are not expected to be exhaustive. [3]
The department lists the fatality statistics categorised by commodity, date, fiscal year, occupation, causes, report status and type of mining (underground or surface). [3] Records up until 1967 are not categorised by commodity and instead appear as "not categorised" in the listing. Categorisation began in 1967 and almost all fatalities are categorised after 1968. [3]
The statistics do not include the 2000 Australia Beechcraft King Air crash, when a flight to the Gwalia Gold Mine, with seven Sons of Gwalia employees onboard failed to land, instead continuing on to Burketown, where it eventually crashed, having run out of fuel. The pilot and the plane's seven passengers were all killed. [4]
The most recent fatalities in the Western Australian mining industry are:
Multiple fatalities in the Western Australian mining industry are very rare nowadays and none have occurred since June 2000. Here a list of all multiple fatalities in the industry since 1939: [54]
These are the statistics of fatalities by year, type of mining and commodity, subdivided into decades: [83]
Fatalities in the current decade, as of June 2023:
Year | GD | IO | NI | BM | CL | DI | DS | SM | UM | All |
2021 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 3 |
2022 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2023 | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | 2 |
2021–2030 | 3 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 3 | 7 |
Fatalities in the decade 2011 - 2020:
Year | GD | IO | NI | BM | CL | OT | SM | UM | All |
2011 | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | 3 |
2012 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |
2013 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | 3 |
2014 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
2015 | 3 | – | – | 2 | – | – | 2 | 3 | 5 |
2016 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 |
2017 | – | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | – | 2 |
2018 | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 | 3 | – | 3 |
2019 | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | 2 | – | 2 |
2020 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 3 |
2011–2020 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 6 | 23 |
Fatalities in the decade 2001 - 2010:
Year | GD | IO | NI | BM | B A | DI | DS | SM | UM | All |
2001 | – | 1 | 3 | – | – | – | 2 | 6 | – | 6 |
2002 | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2003 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | 4 | 1 | 5 |
2004 | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 2 | 5 |
2005 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | 4 |
2006 | 1 | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 3 |
2007 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | 4 |
2008 | 1 | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | 4 |
2009 | 2 | 3 | – | 1 | – | – | – | 5 | 1 | 6 |
2010 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | 3 |
2001–2010 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 13 | 42 |
Fatalities by decade:
Year | GD | IO | NI | BM | B A | CY | CL | CM | DI | DS | MS | SA | T T | OT | NC ‡ | All |
1943–1950 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 107 | 107 |
1951–1960 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 142 | 142 |
1961–1970 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 55 | 92 |
1971–1980 | 15 | 44 | 31 | – | 4 | – | 1 | 6 | – | – | 5 | 3 | – | 4 | 1 | 114 |
1981–1990 | 44 | 8 | 19 | – | 4 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 2 | – | 4 | 4 | 1 | 89 |
1991–2000 | 42 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 2 | – | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 1 | 71 |
2001–2010 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | 42 |
2011–2020 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 2 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | 23 |
2021–2030 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 |
1943–2020 | 136 | 98 | 76 | 5 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 307 | 685 |
The Kalgoorlie branch of the Western Australian Museum, known as the Museum of the Goldfields, hosts a series of panels that name every mining fatality in the Kalgoorlie area since establishment of the mines. [84]
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A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries where safety measures are not practiced as fully. A mining disaster is an incident where there are five or more fatalities.
Mining in Western Australia, together with the petroleum industry in the state, accounted for 94% of the State's and 46% of Australia's income from total merchandise exports in 2019–20. The state of Western Australia hosted 123 predominantly higher value and export-oriented mining projects and hundreds of smaller quarries and mines. The principal projects produced more than 99 per cent of the industry's total sales value.
The Central Norseman gold mine is located at Norseman, Western Australia. Norseman lies at the southern end of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt, in the Eastern Goldfields Province of the Yilgarn Block, Western Australia.
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Gold mining in Western Australia is the third largest commodity sector in Western Australia (WA), behind iron ore and LNG, with a value of A$17 billion in 2021–22. The 6.9 million troy ounces sold during this time period was the highest amount in 20 years and accounted for almost 70 percent of all gold sold in Australia.
The Brockman 2 mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 60 kilometres north-west of Tom Price. It should not be confused with Rio Tinto's Brockman 4 mine, also in the area.
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The West Angelas mine is an iron ore mine located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, 110 kilometres North West of Newman.
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