Emergency services are considering how to best respond to underground mine incidents.
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Victoria Police Regional Emergency Management Inspector, Colin Renton, said Bendigo’s active gold mines – Fosterville and Costerfield – and the region’s tourist mines were a top priority for the force.
Mr Renton said emergency services ran an exercise 12 months ago at both active mines and identified some procedural issues.
In 2015, 28 people were temporarily trapped in the Costerfield mine after a piece of machinery caught fire.
All people were safely removed from the mine, with no injuries reported at the time.
Security at the region’s non-operational mines was adequate, Mr Renton said.
“Any time you are putting people in an unnatural environment your raise the risk,” he said.