"Lily Mine rescue faces two-week delay", 18 Feb 2016

[Three employees were]...trapped underground on February 5 when the container they were working in fell into a sinkhole created by a collapsed crown pillar, before being covered by huge rocks [at Lily Mine,owned by Vantage Goldfields]. Seventy-six other workers were rescued following the collapse. The rescue operation was delayed as health and safety regulations do not allow for rescuers to go underground without a second escape outlet...

Vantage Goldfields CEO Mike McChesney said the process of establishing an escape route, which will now precede any rescue mission, will be complex. “…the rock engineers have emphasised the magnitude and the complexity of this operation. The timing that they are estimating to make the working safe again is about two weeks,” McChesney [said]…