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Gold bar - Source: ONE News
Workers at the Macraes gold mine near Palmerston were exposed to up to 20 times the safe levels of mercury inside a processing room, a highly critical Labour Department investigation has revealed.
The report, issued under the Official Information Act, criticised Oceana Gold, saying it had breached health and safety laws during the incident, which saw three men undergo treatment to remove mercury from their bodies.
The mine became aware of the problem in January 2010, after an audit revealed elevated levels of mercury vapour in the air inside the processing plant's gold room, the report said.
However, it did not inform the department until mid-June, the report says.
Oceana's own tests on April 30, 2010 showed the level of mercury vapour in the room to be 20 times the recommended level for an eight-hour exposure, it says.
In a further test on May 5, the vapour was eight times the recommended level, the report says.
Tests revealed three workers had elevated levels of mercury in their bodies.
The main operator in the room was removed from work on June 6 after doctors involved in the tests expressed concern.
The Labour Department was notified on June 10.
Oceana head of business development Darren Klinck said the department was not told about the problem in January because the company was establishing its severity.
"There has been no evidence of mercury levels that posed a health risk or required safety control to be implemented until 2010," he said.
"After identifying a potential issue through our regular safety audit process, testing of employees was undertaken ... Immediate precautionary steps were put in place to ensure employee safety. Following receipt of the additional scientific tests in June 2010, the Department of Labour was immediately notified."
The report says after the operator's test results the gold room stopped processing ore until a new ventilation system was installed. The company paid for treatment to remove the metal from workers' bodies, it says.
The investigation concluded that Oceana had breached legislation by failing to identify the hazard and failing to protect its workers.
"[Oceana] failed to supply PPE [protective equipment] after identifying high levels of mercury in the slimes which would have been a practicable step to take to ensure workers were not exposed to mercury vapour while undertaking further investigation."
The gold room was not equipped to deal with the mercury hazard, it says. "The company has resources available to them on site ... and it appears they did not employ those resources adequately."
Workers were not given enhanced protective equipment immediately after the mercury vapour was discovered, the report said, and new workers in the room were not told about the risk.
However, Klinck said that was incorrect.
"As soon as we were aware of the potential issue, we openly discussed with those people directly involved," he said.
Oceana was not prosecuted because it had taken care of the issue and could stop it happening in future, the Labour Department said.
Amalgamated Workers' Union representative Calvin Fisher said the incident was a shock for mine workers.
"It was a sobering reminder of the industry they are in," he said.
Everybody who wanted to be tested was, he said, and they were offered full support from Oceana.
"The company was certainly proactive when they got word of it," he said.
"The question is if they've got health and safety in place how did [mercury] get to such a high level as to endanger somebody's long-term health?"
Klinck said the company had worked closely with the department to upgrade the gold room since the incident.
New ventilation, processing and personal safety equipment had been installed in the existing gold room, and a new room was in the planning stages, he said.
The men exposed to the mercury had shown no ill-effects from their exposure, he said.
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