Killed miner named by police

UPDATE 1.25PM: Police have named the 29-year-old man who was killed in a accident at a Waihi mine on Thursday night.

Western Bay of Plenty man Tipiwai Stainton, 29, died following a work place accident at OceanaGold's Correnso Mine at about 6.30pm.


A miner was killed under Waihi last night. Picture:
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Operations at the mine have been suspended following the death and police have handed the scene over to Worksafe New Zealand and are assisting them with their inquiries.

Officers are also continuing investigations on behalf of the Coroner.

OceanaGold says it's the first fatality in its 25-years of operations in New Zealand, reports Fairfax.

The mine's general manager Bernie O'Leary told a media conference this morning it was too early to speculate about what might have happened.

He confirms Tipiwai had been void-filling - which is back-filling waste rock - about 200m below the surface in the 300m-deep mine.

Fairfax reports Bernie didn't want to be pressed on how anyone was alerted to the accident, saying it would come out as 'part of the investigation”.

EARLIER:

A 29-year-old man died following a work place accident at an OceanaGold mine in Waihi last night.

The man was killed after the 50 tonne front end loader he was in rolled down a stope in the Correnso mine about 6.30pm.

A stope is a step-like underground space produced by mining.

An underground mine rescue team carried out a search for the man and his body was found in the early hours of this morning in the loader.

WorkSafe and Police are at the scene and are investigating the circumstances of the death.

Area Commander Inspector John Kelly would like to thank all those involved in the rescue operation and also offers his sympathies to the family and friends of the deceased man.

Police, emergency services and mine rescue staff were called to the Corresnso underground mine last night.

An earlier release stated the large front end loader with one person on board roll down a shaft.

While the rescue operation was carried out all mining activities in the area were stopped.

The mine is the Correnso mine which is a working between 350 and 130 metres below the streeets of Waihi.


A schematic of the Mine

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