COVID-19 exercise a success for Far West mines

PANDEMINEIUM, a virtual underground mine collapse exercise, was held at mines in the Far West of NSW to test the effectiveness of the new operating constraints arising from COVID-19 in the event of a major incident at a mine. The exercise, deemed a success by all participants, considered the major incident response with resources attending the area. The exercise also considered the complexities that come with such emergencies, such as media, family, national and international offers of assistance and more.

The exercise was created after discussions between the NSW Resources Regulator, Broken Hill mining companies, police and NSW Health staff as part of a mining reference group formed to discuss COVID-19 specific issues for the industry. The reference group, established as a subset to the Broken Hill Emergency Management Committee, identified the issues associated with the current pandemic that could affect the ability to respond to a major incident at a mine in the Far West of the state.

The exercise was facilitated virtually by the Resources Regulator from Maitland, with 25 participant locations joining from the Broken Hill area and across the state.

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