Police have today released a picture of the mine wall collapse which buried a miner on Saturday.
Excavation work is still to start to try and locate the man's body at the remote Bootu Creek manganese mine in the Northern Territory after the accident five days ago.
The 59-year-old Darwin man was engulfed by an estimated 48,000 cubic metres of rock and soil from a pit wall collapse on Saturday.
Additional geotechnical equipment and experts in geotechnical engineering have arrived on site to assess the stability of the site and help aid in the response activities.
The manganese mine is located about 130 kilometres north of Tennant Creek.
The geotechnical data will enable an understanding of the stability of the ground so decisions can be made regarding the required level of safety for recovery activities to begin.
Specialist operational equipment has also been deployed to be used once a safe plan has been developed.
Additional external experts are also being engaged as technical requirements are better understood.
It is not known how long it will take to remove the employee due to the instability of the incident site.
The Joint Taskforce led by NT Police and comprising NT Worksafe and the Department of Primary Industry and Resources (DPIR), in conjunction with the mine operator, continues to respond to the incident at Bootu Creek.
NT Police, NT Worksafe inspectors and DPIR officers remain on site at the operations centre to monitor the response activity.
Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
