“We’re persevering with to handle a combustion occasion underground at Grosvenor Mine, following a localized ignition on the longwall on Saturday,” Anglo American stated on Fb on Sunday.
“Our precedence is to soundly extinguish the underground fireplace, which emergency response groups are managing from the floor.”
The location was closed, with solely important emergency companies workforce members in attendance, it stated in an earlier Fb publish.
Anglo American stated work had began to quickly seal the mine from the floor, which was a “vital step” in stopping smoke from the fireplace impacting residents within the city of 9,425 individuals.
“As a result of extremely advanced and evolving nature of this occasion, this may take time as we have to guarantee the security of all emergency groups enterprise this work,” the corporate stated.
All mine employees have been safely evacuated after the fireplace ignited.
A spokesperson for Queensland Fireplace and Emergency Providers stated the company was not on the incident, which was being dealt with by the mine.
Queensland Mines Minister Scott Stewart stated there could be a “full and thorough investigation” into the fireplace, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported on Sunday.
The Grosvenor mine produced 2.797 million tons of metallurgical coal in 2023, making up 17% of Anglo American’s coal output, in accordance with its annual report. The corporate is the world’s third largest exporter of metallurgical coal.
On the mine, the corporate makes use of the longwall mining methodology, a way used to extract lengthy panels of coal in a single slice.
(By Sam McKeith; Enhancing by Sonali Paul)