‘Fallen on Deaf Ears’: Safety Fears Before Mine Tragedy

A miner is dead and another is fighting for his life after an underground collapse at a Victorian mine that has been at the centre of union safety concerns. Both men were pinned by fallen rocks at the Ballarat Gold Mine on Woolshed Gully Drive at Mount Clear, northwest of Melbourne, before 5pm on March 13. The body of a 37-year-old man who died after the rockfall, and named in multiple media reports as Kurt Hourigan of Bruthen, was recovered about 6am on Thursday. A second man, 21, was stabilised and taken out of the mine the night before with lower body injuries....