“You were the best mate I could ask for. All the good and dumb advice. The cuddles when I’m balling my eyes out or just … sitting with me and having a stubby on the couch!”

Earlier on Thursday, the leader of the Australian Workers’ Union slammed the gold mine operators for working conditions he described as “a quick, cheap and easy way to chase gold.”

AWU state secretary Ronnie Hayden claimed on Thursday that the mine’s safety manager was made redundant months before the tragedy.

“It’s devastating because we’ve lost another worker, and no worker should be injured or die at work,” Hayden said.

Victory Minerals owns the Ballarat mine. The company took operational control in December 2023. The Age has contacted the company for comment.

Thirty people were working inside the mine, located in Mount Clear, just south of central Ballarat, on Wednesday afternoon when tragedy struck about 4.50pm.

Two of the workers were pinned by fallen rocks about three kilometres from the mine entrance, while 28 workers sought refuge in a safety pod and were brought to the surface.

The 21-year-old man was freed on Wednesday night was flown to The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne with life-threatening injuries. He remained in a critical condition on Thursday.

Hourigan’s body was recovered from the mine on Thursday morning.

Hayden said the two men who became trapped had been “air-legging” under unsupported ground, and that ground gave way.

Air-legging mining is where a cylinder operated by compressed air keeps a rock drill pressed into the hole being drilled.

Hayden said the method was typically used to put anchors into the rock to hold it back, but in this case, it was being used to create a tunnel.

“Our members have raised concerns about this style of mining, and it seems to have fallen on deaf ears,” he said. “This was a quick, cheap and easy way to chase gold.”

In an update to shareholders last year, the mine’s Singapore-based owners said “a new mining technique, the air-legging mining”, had started in May 2023.

The site has been shut down while police and WorkSafe Victoria conduct investigations into the incident. Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

Premier Jacinta Allan thanked emergency services for their swift response to the tragedy said her thoughts were with the dead miner’s family.

“Also, too, I want to acknowledge the other 28 miners who were also trapped for some time. This would have been a terrifying ordeal for those miners. Certainly, our thoughts should be with them as well,” Allan said.

“It’s been a really difficult time for the Ballarat community in recent weeks and months.”

Victory Minerals released a statement on Thursday expressing sympathy for Hourigan’s family.

“Our absolute priority is supporting the wellbeing of our team members and their families and loved ones as we all come to terms with this tragic news,” the statement said.

“One of our other team members who was transported to hospital last night is getting the best care possible. Our thoughts are with him and family and loved ones at this time.”

About 30 people were involved in the rescue, including police and members of Ambulance Victoria, the Country Fire Authority, a mine rescue team and other agencies.

The mine’s website states it has an extensive network of tunnels and operates deep beneath buildings, streets and homes.

Ballarat’s goldfields attracted migrants from around the world in the 1850s, and gold has continued to be mined in recent years.

Victory Minerals employs about 200 people and aims to produce about 40,000 to 50,000 ounces of gold a year.

The mine and its operations were bought last year by a Singapore-based subsidiary of London Hedge fund Acheron from the administrators of Balmaine Gold via a deed of company arrangement. Liquidators to Balmaine’s parent, Golden Point Group, from insolvency firm Hall Chadwick are continuing their investigations into the group.

The ABC and the Financial Review have reported an estimated 600 tonnes of rock collapsed into one of the mine’s underground tunnels in March 2021.

In November 2007, rescuers successfully brought 27 miners back to the surface at the Mount Clear gold mine after they were trapped hundreds of metres underground by a cave-in.

A year earlier, Tasmanian miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb were trapped almost a kilometre underground for two weeks by a rock fall on Anzac Day at the Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania. Their colleague Larry Knight died in the collapse.

Bushland near the Mount Clear mine was the focus of a major search operation for missing Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy in the past month. Last week, police charged 22-year-old Patrick Stephenson with murder, alleging he attacked her at Mount Clear.

With Broede Carmody, Sarah Danckert and Rachel Eddie

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