Single Record

Full Details

Details of Event: Deceased and two other miners were ‘slipping,’ or taking a slice off a pillar of ore; the working was 8 feet high and 9 feet wide; one side was open to old workings and the other was solid ore, while above was the old wood and debris from 5 heights previously worked. The day before the accident a holing had been made into another working which was taking a slice off the pillar on the same level from another direction and the two workings had been connected by timbering with the exception that a leg or fork was required next the solid ore under the last headtree; this headtree in the meantime rested on a leg next the open side and on a hitch with a base of 6 inches in the ore on the solid side. The hitch was in apparently sound ore but the ore here is somewhat friable and weakens on exposure to air. They fired 3 shots, in the bottom below the hitch about 20 minutes before the accident to make room for a leg, and these shots may have weakened the bitch although an examination after firing the shots did not disclose any defect. While lifting up the leg the hitch gave way and about 2.5 tons of ore fell from the side without giving any warning as well as the headtree and been visited by one of the sub-captains and a timberman during the shift, and they observed nothing amiss.