Miner trapped underground, rock fall kills prospector

The search continues for a man believed to be trapped underground after a roof collapsed at a coalmine, while another man has died being hit by falling rocks at a separate historical mining site.

The missing worker is believed to have been inside the Curragh coalmine in central Queensland when the roof collapsed about 3pm on Friday.

Police believe he could be trapped as deep as one kilometre underground.

Resources Safety and Health Queensland said it was responding to the incident, with its focus on supporting efforts to recover the worker.

Queensland Acting Mines Minister Tony Perrett said two workers had been recovered safely but one remained trapped.

"My thoughts are with all of those involved, their loved ones, the entire mining community," Mr Perrett said.

Curragh Coal Mine is north of Blackwater, about 200km west of Rockhampton.

The site covers about 256 square kilometres across two separate mines and has been in operation since 1983.

Curragh has been owned by Coronado Global Resources since buying the mine in 2018.

A Coronado spokesperson said the company was providing support to the contracted coalmine operator, Mammoth Underground Mine Management, while all underground mining operations had been suspended.

In October 2025, Coronado was fined $80,000 plus court costs for the death of one of its workers at Curragh, Clark Peadon, in 2021.

Another worker, Donald Rabbitt, was killed at the mine in 2020.

All charges in relation to Mr Rabbitt's death were later dropped.

In a separate incident about 300km north of Curragh, a gold prospector working at a private mine site died after being hit by falling rocks.

The 58-year-old man had been working alone with an excavator at a Mount Britton property when a rock face partially collapsed on Friday afternoon.

Injuries to his leg caused by a falling rock eventually claimed the man's life, Queensland Police said on Saturday.