Two earthquakes hit western New South Wales within 150 minutes, including tremor at Cadia mine

Two small earthquakes have struck western New South Wales within about 150 minutes of each other, with one recorded inside the Newmont Cadia Gold Mine site south of Orange. The stronger of the two measured magnitude 3.4 and was detected about 1 kilometre underground at around 5:45am on Friday. A second quake, measuring magnitude 3.2, was recorded north-west of Wilcannia earlier in the morning.

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Geoscience Australia said about 100 people reported feeling the Cadia tremor, including residents in Orange, Millthorpe, Blayney and Oberon. Blayney Shire Mayor Bruce Reynolds, who lives about 12 kilometres from the epicentre, said the shaking lasted about five seconds. The Wilcannia quake was felt by only two people and was detected by a remote station near Mutawintji National Park.

The Cadia event is notable because the mine is one of the country's largest gold operations and sits in a region that has already experienced significant seismic activity this year. The latest tremor came just two months after underground operations at the site were suspended for five weeks following a magnitude-4.5 earthquake on 14 April. That earlier quake trapped employees in underground refuge chambers for more than 10 hours and was felt far beyond the Orange region.

The April quake was the largest on record for the Orange area, surpassing a magnitude-4.3 event in 2017 that also led to a precautionary evacuation of Cadia and halted operations for several months. Friday's tremor was much smaller, but its location inside a major mining site gives it added operational significance. It also underlines how seismic activity can affect industrial sites even when the shaking is relatively modest.

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The mine's operator has been contacted for comment, but no response was included in the supplied material. The latest activity also adds to a short sequence of earthquakes in western New South Wales, with the Cadia tremor described as the third quake in very close proximity to the mine. While the Wilcannia event appears to have caused little public impact, the pair of quakes will likely renew attention on monitoring in the region.

What remains unclear from the available information is whether either quake caused any damage or disruption to mining operations on Friday. It is also not yet known whether further seismic activity will follow in the same area. For now, the confirmed facts point to two separate, low-magnitude earthquakes in western New South Wales, one of them directly beneath a major gold mine site.

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