Hail Creek recognised as Coal Mine of the Year

Rio Tinto Coal Australia's Hail Creek Mine was awarded the prestigious Coal Mine of the Year award at the 2008 Mining Prospect Awards in Sydney last night.

Recognised for its achievements in safety, community relations and employee programmes, Hail Creek Mine took out the award which highlights best practice and
innovation in the coal mining industry.

Hail Creek Mine general manager operations Andrew Woodley said he was honoured to accept the award on behalf of all of the employees, contractors and surrounding community of the Hail Creek Mine.

"This year Hail Creek Mine celebrates five years of operations, so to win this prestigious award considering that we are still a young mine is a fantastic achievement for us," Mr Woodley said.

"We are proud to be recognised alongside the other outstanding nominees in this category for our achievements in making our workplaces the best they can be.

"We are going from strength to strength this year, and our successes are due to the unwavering dedication and commitment of our workforce, as well as the strong support that we receive from our local community," Mr Woodley said.

Hail Creek Mine was recently awarded the Queensland Road Safety award for its Road Safe September Programme and also received the Corporate Citizen's Award for 2008 from the former Nebo Shire in recognition of the Mine's community partnership programmes.

"We have always taken a proactive approach to our entire operations and we will continue to work with our employees and local community to be both an employer of choice, but to also build capacity and sustainability in our surrounding communities," Mr Woodley said.

"To win this award demonstrates that we have laid some very strong foundations within our industry, which we will continue build on for many more years to come."

Media enquiries:
Alison Smith
07 3361 4223 / 0438 787 038

Media release - Hail Creek recognised as Coal Mine of the Year [PDF: 17 KB]