Regis Resources said a contract team member was fatally injured while carrying out work at the Duketon South gold operation in Western Australia’s North Eastern Goldfields on Friday, November 6. Australian reporting identified the worker as a 75 year old man and said emergency services were called to the Bandya camp area at about 12:30pm local time, where mine site medical staff had provided first aid. The site sits about 130 kilometres north of Laverton and more than 700 kilometres from Perth.
Next of kin have been notified. The incident is under investigation by WA Police and WorkSafe Western Australia, with Regis providing full assistance, and police will prepare a report for the state Coroner. WorkSafe inspectors were making arrangements to attend the scene.
Operations at Duketon are temporarily suspended, in the company’s words stood down for the time being, and Regis has given no indication of when they may resume. The company said employee assistance programs have been activated and support is being provided to those affected.
Duketon, comprising the Duketon North and Duketon South operations, is one of Regis’s two production centres alongside Tropicana. A prolonged stand down would affect near term group output, but the investment question at this stage is duration, which depends on the investigation, and Regis has disclosed nothing yet on the circumstances of the incident itself.