“Our five injured colleagues continue to receive the best treatment possible from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and we are incredibly grateful to all the staff who are caring for our colleagues and their families, and to all those who are also offering support.

“Our focus remains on the care of our injured colleagues and their families, and finding out what went wrong.

“Earlier today, a staged re-entry to the Grosvenor mine commenced, after our risk assessment received approval from the Mines Inspectorate.

“The staged re-entry ensures that all safety controls are in place including reconnecting the gas monitoring equipment, restoring power to the underground and pumping excess water from the mine.

“Re-entry to the mine will enable investigations into the incident to commence; we will ensure our investigation draws on the best possible expert advice.

“We will not resume mining until we are satisfied that we know what happened and how we can avoid it happening again.

“Our team at Grosvenor has worked tirelessly, under challenging circumstances, to ensure we can safely re-enter the mine so we can begin investigations and I want to acknowledge their work and dedication.

“We have sent our coal mine workers due to work last week home on full pay and will continue to approach this day by day, as we step through our investigation.

“It would not be right for us or anyone else to comment on the circumstances leading up to this incident, as this will all form part of the thorough expert investigation. It is therefore very premature for anyone to speculate on the causes of this particular incident.”