Two miners trapped in an underground coalmine in the NSW Southern Highlands late into the night have been rescued after a crane lowered emergency services personnel into the mine's entrance.
The pair became trapped in a lift at the Tahmoor mine near Picton about 3pm on Wednesday.
A spokesman for mining company owner SIMEC Mining said the lift carrying the pair to the surface had stopped about 150 metres short.
"The lift was immediately isolated both electrically and mechanically and two-way communications were established," he said.
NSW Fire and Rescue superintendent Graham Jarrett said a plan had been devised with the company to rescue the miners.
"Firefighters in the rescue lift cart were lowered down to the stuck lift cart and were able to remove two miners … into the rescue cart and bring them to the surface," he said.
"When they were brought to the surface, they were checked out by paramedics and found to be okay and released to go home."
All other workers in the mine were evacuated, and the area of the mine where the incident occurred remains closed.
"The resources regulator is currently investigating the cause and circumstances that led to the winder failure," the spokesman said.
The Tahmoor mine is located east of Warragamba Dam, Sydney's main water supply, and employs about 300 people.
It was purchased from Glencore in January by UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta's GFC Alliance.
The mine produces about 2 million tonnes of hard coking coal a year, mainly for the Whyalla steelworks in South Australia.
