Mastermyne Contracting Services fined $310,000 with no conviction recorded over 2022 miner death

Mastermyne Contracting Services was fined $310,000 in June 2026 for the 2022 death of worker Gavin Feltwell at the Moranbah North coal mine in Central Queensland, Abc reported. The court also ordered the company to pay $54,973.44 in court and legal costs, and no conviction was recorded.

Feltwell, 59, was fatally struck in the head by a torque arm that slipped from slings while he and five crew members removed a conveyor during a night shift.

Resources Safety and Health Queensland launched an immediate investigation. The company was charged in November 2023 under the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 with failure to discharge health and safety obligations causing death or grievous bodily harm and later pleaded guilty. The maximum penalty for a corporation under the act is 15,000 penalty units, or $2,067,750.

Mastermyne Contracting Services is a subsidiary of the ASX-listed Mastermyne group, which reported an underlying profit of $3.2 million in its 2025 financial year after $19.6 million the prior year. Michelle Feltwell, the victim's widow, said she felt there was "no justice at all" after the sentencing, which she followed remotely.

Their son Daniel Feltwell said the fine felt like "nothing" and that he still experiences anxiety every time his phone vibrates.

Mining safety advocate Scott Leggett, who has worked in the industry for 35 years, said the outcome provided "absolutely no deterrent" for mining corporations. Leggett successfully lobbied for the reintroduction of the Mining Warden’s Court, abolished in Queensland in 2001.

In October 2025 the LNP government appointed mining and resources coroner Wayne Pennell to conduct mandatory inquests into reportable mining fatalities and certain mine-worker suicides.