Glencore’s Oaky North team reclaimed the 19th Queensland Mines Rescue Service (QMRS) Memorial Cup held at Kestrel Mine in April.
Mines Rescue provides emergency response to the industry in the case of an emergency. Events like the QMRS Memorial Cup give Mines Rescue members the opportunity to test and hone their skills in preparation for when they may be called upon.
The 19th Memorial Cup saw Glencore’s Oaky North take out first place, followed by Fitzroy Mining’s Carborough Downs, the composite Barbarians team, and Idemitsu’s Ensham in fourth. Oaky North also won the First Aid portion of the day and Anglo American’s Aquila won the firefighting component of the competition.
QRMS Operations Manager Garrett Thompson said the competition was another huge success.
“It went off without a hitch, we had six teams compete and two of those teams were a composite team.
“The fire exercise was probably the best to watch on the day; the teams had to extinguish a fire from a vehicle and rescue two personnel at the same time using some gear they don’t get to use often. So, they had to put out the fire, rescue the people and return to safety in a short period of time which they found quite stressful, but they all did very well.
“The competition is great for everyone involved. It helps bolster the safety of each mine because the miners come and compete and learn from each other. They bounce ideas off each other and they take that knowledge back with them.”
The Memorial Cup is the first stage of the Mines Rescue competition in Queensland. The top four teams from the Cup will compete at Grosvenor Mine on July 18 against the current top two teams in Australia, Grosvenor and Moranbah North. Then there’s the QRMS Surface Challenge in August before the Australian Competition in October, hosted this year by NSW Mines Rescue, which will decide which teams get the opportunity to represent the country at the World event.
Garrett said they couldn’t do any of the competitions without the mines who hosted them and they couldn’t be more grateful.
“The hosting mines play the biggest part. Obviously, they still have their day-to-day operations going on and then they take on board 60 to 70 extra people who wouldn’t normally be there. We’re taking a section of their mine out of action, they let us use their machines, and just generally come on site, so they play a massive role.
“Going onto operating mine sites benefits everyone, it fosters the comradery between industry and the different mine sites.”
