00:00Emergency services were called to the Endeavour mine site about 40 kilometres north of Cobar in western New South Wales at around 3.45am following reports of a serious workplace accident in which two people had been critically injured.
00:18Officers say upon arrival they found a man aged in his 60s who had been killed in that underground explosion. Two women both aged in their 20s were brought to the surface of the mine. One of those women aged in her 20s died. That second woman was taken to hospital with shock and hearing loss related injuries.
00:38Cobar Mayor Jared Marsden says it's an absolutely tragic situation. He says the most valuable thing to come out of a mine are the miners and two families don't get to see their loved ones anymore.
00:52He's described Cobar as a small mining community. He says it's very tight knit and I'm sure everyone is going to be thinking of their families today.
01:00New South Wales Mine Workers Alliance says the community of Cobar will be feeling the effects of this tragedy for a very long time.
01:08We'll call on the company to make sure that that support's in place for every single worker at Endeavour. The New South Wales Mine Workers Alliance will also ensure that we've got support measures in place for our members because this isn't just going to go away overnight. This is going to have a long lasting effect to the people that work at Endeavour but also the other mines around the district.
01:33It's tragic. Cobar is a great community and I feel for every person that works in that mining industry around Cobar but most importantly the family and friends of the two people that have been tragically killed this morning.
01:50The Endeavour site is a major zinc, lead and silver mine and is one of the largest in the Cobar Basin. It's owned by Polymetals Resources who purchased the site in 2023 but have only begun mining operations earlier this year.
02:07We understand the business have temporarily halted their trading on the Australian Stock Exchange.
02:13Now emergency services are expected to be on the site of the mine throughout the day. They'll be joined by SafeWork New South Wales investigators as they try to piece together what could have caused this underground blast.
02:25Start a little bit in there.
02:43Now, you see theigg gäbe is one of the most prominent mining customers that unexpected.
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