Killer Company Sent Down

Swiss mining giant Xstrata has been fined $1.47 million over the 1996 deaths of four Hunter Valley coalminers.

In the wake of the record fine, handed down in Sydney today, bereaved families have again urged the minerals company to drop its attempt to have health and safety laws declared unconstitutional.

Victims family spokesman Ian Murray - whose 18-year old son Damon Murray was killed at Gretley - said the families "have been through hell" in their eight-year campaign for justice.

"Today's decision should have provided us with closure but with Xstrata going to Court on Monday to overturn the laws that secured the Gretley convictions, the issue is far from over," Murray said.

If the Xstrata challenge succeeded, he said, mining companies would be immune from prosecutions for breaches of safety laws.

"I don't understand why they can't just cop the fine. All miners and their families are entitled to the full protection of the law and mining companies like Xstrata have no right to seek to put themselves above the law.

Companies are prosecuted for a wide range of violations of the law in areas like tax evasion and pollution yet Xstrata is demanding that mining companies be exempt from prosecutions for negligent actions that lead to mineworkers being injured or killed", Murray said.

Miners Union general president Tony Maher said that Xstrata's challenge had provoked enormous resentment among rank and file mineworkers.

Mineworker representatives from every pit in NSW will rally outside Sydney's Court of Appeal, next Monday, to demonstrate their opposition to the company's stance.

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Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:38 EST