Greater safety with autonomous mining
With a total of 13 mine fatalities in WA in 1997, nine of which were in underground mining, Alex Atkins knew she was entering dangerous territory in her chosen career. It was the same year that Ms Atkins started out in underground mining, armed with two engineering degrees and qualified as a geotechnical engineer, mining engineer and mining geologist. The principal of Alex Atkins and Associates – guest speaker at the St Barbara’s Day Luncheon in Perth last Friday, organised by the WA Mining Club – says it was a formative experience for her being in the “line of fire in such a deadly period”. “The number of fatalities in the decade I started were more than double the industry’s…