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Events/Disaster · 1991

South Bulli Colliery gas outburst

Disaster, 1991-07-24, Australia.

What happened

On 24 July 1991 three mine workers were asphyxiated by carbon dioxide from an outburst at the coalface at South Bulli Colliery near Wollongong, shortly after roof supports were installed and cutting resumed.1,2

Why it matters

The regulator uses it as a case study of gas outbursts at the coalface.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Centralia mine fire starts

    Centralia mine fire starts.3

  2. Aberfan disaster

    Aberfan disaster. Wikidata records 144 deaths.4

  3. Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969

    The Act is the British statute on the security of tips. The opened page does not link it to Aberfan.5,6

  4. Westray mine explosion

    The inquiry report is titled A Predictable Path to Disaster.7,8

  5. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape inscribed

    UNESCO World Heritage listing event.9

  6. Pike River Mine disaster

    Pike River Mine disaster.10

  7. Major Mining Sites of Wallonia inscribed

    UNESCO World Heritage listing event.11

  8. Soma mine disaster

    Soma mine disaster. Wikidata records 301 deaths.12

Open the full timeline

Where next

Events

An example ofGretley Colliery inrushGas in 1991, water in 1996: Gretley's inrush drowned four men.13

Sources

  1. 1991 South Bulli Colliery Outburst case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  2. Bulli (item Q4996904), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Wikidata item Q16256909 (Centralia mine fire starts)
  4. Wikidata item Q384291 (Aberfan disaster)
  5. Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969 (c. 10), arrangement of sections UK National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)
  6. London (item Q84), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. The Westray Story: A Predictable Path to Disaster, executive summary Government of Nova Scotia
  8. Westray Mine (item Q3314812), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Blaenavon Industrial Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  10. Wikidata item Q928629 (Pike River Mine disaster)
  11. Major Mining Sites of Wallonia UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  12. Wikidata item Q16869476 (Soma mine disaster)
  13. 1996 Gretley Colliery Inrush case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0.