All underground workers at Doray Minerals’ Deflector gold copper mine were safe and uninjured after an underground loader caught fire after midnight yesterday.

The company has halted its underground operations while an investigation is underway.

No update has been released by the company since the fire was announced.

At the time of the fire, 11 underground workers went to their closest emergency refuge chamber in line with the company’s standard safety procedure. They were later escorted out of the mine by the site emergency response team.

All workers have returned to the above-ground Deflector site office.

Deflector is expected to produce around 62,500oz of gold and 2600t of copper in the 2018 financial year.

It produced its first gold in May 2016.