31 October 2025
A team from BHP’s Carrapateena mine in South Australia’s Far North has emerged the overall winner following two days of emergency rescues in the Adelaide Hills.
Held on 23 and 24 October as part of National Safe Work Month, the South Australian Mines Emergency Response Competition (SAMERC) attracted eight teams from around Australia and New Zealand.
The teams battled it out at the CFS Training Centre, Brukunga, in the Adelaide Hills across 10 scenarios designed to test their skills and knowledge in the event they are called on to respond to a mine emergency.
Overall winners were BHP Carrapateena, which also took out individual categories - Theory, BA Search and Rescue, Road Crash Rescue, Industrial Rescue and the Best Captain Award.
In its 16th year, the competition’s sole international team, OceanaGold NZ took out the Chairman’s Award, Vertical Rescue and Confined Space Rescue.
Other winners were BHP Prominent Hill (Firefighting), CSA Mine NSW (Surface Rescue), SIMEC Whyalla (Team Skills and First Aid)
SafeWork SA was a premium sponsor of the event.