Doubts on safety as another miner dies The Australian mining industry has been rocked by another fatality in Tasmania, ending a week in which the safety credentials of the industry were questioned on both sides of the continent. A 53-year-old man was found dead on Friday morning in Tasmania's ageing Mt Lyell underground mine, and some have linked the fatality to a rush of mud, rocks and water that occurred within the mine's deeper regions. The fatality was the third in 39 days at the Mt Lyell mine, which is owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources and has battled declining revenues since 2011. The incident comes after a vigorous debate between Fortescue Metals and unions in Western Australia this week, following deaths at the company's Christmas Creek operations in December and August. The December incident, plus several recent injuries, prompted the WA Mines and Energy Department to deliver special orders to Fortescue to tighten up safety at its Pilbara operations. With criticism continuing to flow this week, Fortescue boss Nev Power resorted to YouTube to deliver a sober and forthright defence of his company's record. "Safety is core to everything we do at Fortescue ... recent serious incidents at Christmas Creek are totally unacceptable to all of us," he said. I would like to make it absolutely clear that no one on a Fortescue site is ever expected to do anything that compromises safety. Neither Fortescue nor Vedanta are members of the Minerals Council of Australia, which has a policy that all workplace accidents are preventable. A spokesman for the council said safety must always be the priority, even ahead of productivity. "The recent fatalities in the sector are a tragic reminder that the industry is far from attaining its goal of zero harm and that we must redouble our efforts to ensure every worker goes home safely," said a spokesman for the council. The fatalities at the Fortescue mines and Friday's fatality in Tasmania all involved men who were employed by contracting companies rather than the miners themselves. Unions have pointed out that mines may be safer when companies do their own mining rather than outsourcing to low-profile contractors. Statistics compiled by Safe Work Australia suggest the fatalities in the mining industry doubled from 5 to 10 between 2012 and 2013, although the industry has had far fewer fatalities than other sectors such as construction, agriculture, manufacturing and transport. That period coincides with a significant downturn in the mining services industry, and some miners - including Fortescue - have recently brought some operations back in-house in a bid to improve safety. The Mount Lyell mine, which is ultimately owned by Indian company Vedanta Resources, is facing declining revenues after reporting earnings before interest and tax of just $15 million in the six months to September 30. That result is less than half the amount reported in the same period the year before, and the company also saw operating profits fall by about 27 per cent between 2011 and 2012.