Verdict on Beaconsfield this Thursday

24 February 2009

The coroner investigating the death of Beaconsfield miner Larry Knight will deliver his findings on Thursday, almost three years after the disaster.

The AWU leadership will attend the reconvened inquest in Launceston on Thursday at 11 am when Coroner Rod Chandler will deliver his findings into the fatal rockfall.

Coroner Rod Chandler heard nine weeks of evidence from almost 40 witnesses in Launceston before adjourning last year to consider his findings.

Larry Knight was killed by an underground rockfall while working at the Beaconsfield gold mine in northern Tasmania on April 25, 2006.

In his final submission to Mr Chandler in November, counsel assisting the coroner Michael O'Farrell said that despite best endeavours, flawed assumptions and a failure to address previous rockfalls by the mining company and its manager led to Mr Knight's death.

Lawyers for the Knight family and The Australian Workers Union asked the Coroner for a finding against Allstate Explorations and its parent company Beaconsfield Gold NL.