Quake closes Kalgoorlie mines, possibly for days

By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - All mines in Australia's Kalgoorlie region were evacuated on Tuesday following a 5.2 magnitude quake, and will not reopen until safety checks are completed, which may take days, a mine union official said.

Mines in the area produce around 50,000 metric tons of nickel and a million ounces of gold a year.

"The report at the moment ... is that all mines have been evacuated and all miners have been tagged and accounted for. And no mine is working at the moment," Australian Workers Union National Secretary Paul Howes told Australian media.

Kalgoorlie is regarded as the mining capital of Australia, with some of the country's biggest gold mines, such as the Super Pit, and has historically been at the center of Australian gold rushes.

"We'll be making sure over the coming hours and possibly days that no mines are reopened until the appropriate safety checks are done," said Howes. "We're not sure how long the mines will need to be shut down."

Workers at Kalgoorlie's Super Pit gold mine, the country's biggest open cut gold mine, were evacuated as a precaution, a Super Pit mine official said, and emergency services said they had not received any reports of major damage to mines in the area.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.2 quake was centered 30 km (19 miles) northeast of the town of Kalgoorlie. The quake damaged several buildings in Kalgoorlie and the nearby mining town of Boulder, but there were no reports of injuries.

Miners would not re-enter mines until safety inspections had been carried out and the mines were declared safe, Howes said, adding that safety checks would take longer for underground mines compared to open pit mines such as the Super Pit.