An official Joint Agency Taskforce has been established, led by NT Police and assisted by NT Worksafe and the Department of Primary Industry and Resources (DPIR) to respond to the incident at Bootu Creek.

Worksafe inspectors and DPIR officers have joined police on site at the operations centre.

Initial reports from NT Worksafe inspectors have shown water seeping from the pit wall, and the ground remaining unstable.

Instability of the site needs to be further assessed before any work can be undertaken to ensure safety of workers and responders. Technical specialists have been engaged to lead these assessments before any response activities can take place.

All in-pit mining work has ceased at Bootu Creek as a direction from DPIR.

This is an extremely sad situation for all involved and our thoughts are with the family of the mine employee, workers on site and emergency first responders.