Read this article in:
12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 77/1998
Austria's mining inspectorate has opened proceedings against two executives of the Rio Tinto-owned Lassing mine for "illegal extraction" there, the newspaper Die Presse reported today. This July, ten miners were killed when the mine caved in.
Die Presse names the two accused men as site manager Hermann Schmitt and Walter Engelhardt, Managing Director of Naintscher Mineralwerke, the local Rio Tinto company that operated the mine.
Meanwhile, Economy Minister Hannes Farnleitner, who has responsiblity for the mining industry, has announced the launch of disciplinary proceedings against the regional head of the mining inspectorate, on the grounds that the inspectorate "did not notice" that mining was continuing in an area for which no valid current permit existed.
Farnleitner is himself under growing pressure to resign over the Lassing disaster. He has now ordered the dissolution of the mining industry section within his ministry. According to Die Presse, Farnleitner said that an internal commission will investigate "all suppositions and indications pointing towards perks, favours and corruption" in the ministry's mining section.
Apart from the question of non-permitted mining, Die Presse quotes Farnleitner as wondering why the extension of tunnels was allowed at all "in a highly dangerous area."
On Austrian TV this Sunday, André Talmon conceded that the mining of one seam had extended 46 metres beyond the permitted area, but said this had not contributed to the accident. Talmon heads Luzenac Naintsch, which is owned by Rio Tinto and in turn owns the Lassing operating company, Naintscher Mineralwerke.
However, the newspaper Der Standard said today it had been told of statements by miners that extraction at Lassing had also taken place from two further seams for which no permits had been issued. This could have led to the collapse of the mine.
Contacted by ICEM UPDATE for comment this afternoon, Rio Tinto's world headquarters in London said the mining in question had been "unauthorised" rather than "illegal".
So Rio Tinto concedes that mining had taken place without a permit? "We're still trying to get to the bottom of this," the Rio Tinto spokesman replied. "Our understanding is that the seam concerned was covered by a mining permit up to the end of 1995, that it was in the process of being backfilled and that perhaps a procedural mistake occurred."
Procedural mistake or not, the Lassing disaster cost the lives of ten miners. A report released last week by the Austrian mining union GMBE charged that the ten men had been sent in, after the mine had begun to subside, purely in order to prevent further damage to the mine rather than to save lives (for details of this and other allegations by the union, see ICEM UPDATE 76/1998).
Rio Tinto is the world's biggest private mining corporation.
Its anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for networking by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), of which the Austrian GMBE is a member.
Die Presse names the two accused men as site manager Hermann Schmitt and Walter Engelhardt, Managing Director of Naintscher Mineralwerke, the local Rio Tinto company that operated the mine.
Meanwhile, Economy Minister Hannes Farnleitner, who has responsiblity for the mining industry, has announced the launch of disciplinary proceedings against the regional head of the mining inspectorate, on the grounds that the inspectorate "did not notice" that mining was continuing in an area for which no valid current permit existed.
Farnleitner is himself under growing pressure to resign over the Lassing disaster. He has now ordered the dissolution of the mining industry section within his ministry. According to Die Presse, Farnleitner said that an internal commission will investigate "all suppositions and indications pointing towards perks, favours and corruption" in the ministry's mining section.
Apart from the question of non-permitted mining, Die Presse quotes Farnleitner as wondering why the extension of tunnels was allowed at all "in a highly dangerous area."
On Austrian TV this Sunday, André Talmon conceded that the mining of one seam had extended 46 metres beyond the permitted area, but said this had not contributed to the accident. Talmon heads Luzenac Naintsch, which is owned by Rio Tinto and in turn owns the Lassing operating company, Naintscher Mineralwerke.
However, the newspaper Der Standard said today it had been told of statements by miners that extraction at Lassing had also taken place from two further seams for which no permits had been issued. This could have led to the collapse of the mine.
Contacted by ICEM UPDATE for comment this afternoon, Rio Tinto's world headquarters in London said the mining in question had been "unauthorised" rather than "illegal".
So Rio Tinto concedes that mining had taken place without a permit? "We're still trying to get to the bottom of this," the Rio Tinto spokesman replied. "Our understanding is that the seam concerned was covered by a mining permit up to the end of 1995, that it was in the process of being backfilled and that perhaps a procedural mistake occurred."
Procedural mistake or not, the Lassing disaster cost the lives of ten miners. A report released last week by the Austrian mining union GMBE charged that the ten men had been sent in, after the mine had begun to subside, purely in order to prevent further damage to the mine rather than to save lives (for details of this and other allegations by the union, see ICEM UPDATE 76/1998).
Rio Tinto is the world's biggest private mining corporation.
Its anti-union stance in many parts of the world has made it a priority target for networking by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), of which the Austrian GMBE is a member.