BHP miner trapped in underground Australia nickel mine

SYDNEY, April 12 (Reuters) - A miner has been trapped underground at BHP Billiton's Perseverance nickel mine in west Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said on Monday.

The accident on Sunday is the third major incident at the mine over the past 10 months after two rock falls last year forced BHP Billiton to shut operations for several weeks.

Rescue crews were still working on Monday to free the miner, who became trapped while driving a mine vehicle, ABC said without giving any more details.

BHP Billiton could not be reached for comment.

Perseverance is part of the company's Nickel West complex, which produced about 36,000 tonnes of nickel in the December quarter.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Mark Bendeich) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to [e-mail]) Keywords: BHP ACCIDENT/ ([e-mail]; [phone]; [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.