Mine evacuated

A CENTRAL Queensland underground coal mine was evacuated at the weekend and production stopped indefinitely after two of its workers tested positive for potentially deadly legionnaires' disease.

Both men are miners at Anglo Coal's Grasstree Mine, near Middlemount.

Environmental health officer Rod Miles took 20 water and soil samples from the mine on Friday to try to pinpoint a source for the legionella bacteria.

But results are not expected until the end of the week.

Central region public health physician Margaret Young said Grasstree Mine workers and contractors should see their doctors if they develop a fever and cough.

"Go to your general practitioner, let them know you've been associated with the mine, ask about legionella and be tested," Dr Young advised.

"But if there's mine workers or contractors who feel perfectly well, we can reassure them that they do not have legionnaires disease."

Anglo Coal's head of external business Neville Sneddon said a risk assessment of the Grasstree Mine was under way. "The mine's evacuated, we've stopped production, we're working our way through the process," he said.

He declined to be drawn on how much money the evacuation had cost the company so far, except to say: "It's very expensive."

Legionnaires' disease is a potentially deadly type of pneumonia caused by the legionella bacteria which can be found naturally in creeks, ponds and soil or in man-made situations such as air-conditioning cooling towers.