The deaths of two men at the Mt Lyell copper mine in Tasmania yesterday takes the number of mine site fatalities this year to six.
That figures includes two men in Western Australia, one woman in New South Wales and one man in Queensland.
That's well below the averages of the last decade, which is ten per year, and far lower compared to 2000, when 27 people lost their lives.
Miners Promise is a community-based organisation that supports the families of those who've died on the job.
Chairwoman Helen Fitzroy says mine closures and the scaling back of operations have left many mine workers unsure of their futures.
She says it's these sorts of pressures that make an often dangerous occupation even more fraught.
"They've sort of been preoccupied with whether or not they're going to have work after Christmas, or before Christmas even.
"You can't tell me that wouldn't be impacting on not just keeping them focused, but just on morale generally."
The rapid expansion in the sector has mean there's now a large number of people working in open cut (surface) mines, compared to underground operations.
Helen Fitzroy says despite that, underground mining has more deaths per number of people working in them, compared to surface mining.
Mrs Fitzroy lost her own husband in an underground accident at the Norseman gold mine in Western Australia in 2000.
She says safety standards in the industry have improved greatly, but she supports the stated industry target of 'zero fatalities'.
"Mining has averaged 10 deaths a year since 2013, and 10 nationally is still a significant amount of people over that period who've lost their lives.
"So you're talking in excess of over 130 people. That's 130 people who're obviously unable to be with their families this Christmas.
"You just have to strive for zero fatalities.
"I don't think anyone would be brave enough to say there's an acceptable level. That's back in the dark ages when companies used to budget for a certain number of deaths every year.
"I would like to think we can get to a point where we do have zero fatalities and I'll continue to strive for that.
"I just think that at the moment it might be an unrealistic expectation."