A seventh Queensland coalminer has been diagnosed with black lung disease.
Queensland Mines Minister Anthony Lynham on Thursday night confirmed a 55-year-old central Queensland man, who had worked as an underground miner for 28 years, had been diagnosed with the disease.
He is the seventh person to be diagnosed with the condition, which is officially known as pneumoconiosis, in the past 12 months.
Steve Smyth of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union says he is aware of an eighth case and fears there will be more to come.
"An ex-member of ours has been confirmed with pneumoconiosis but waiting on confirmation to be sent to the Mines Department and the government," he told ABC Radio.
"This is the tip of the iceberg and we believe that this is going to be, unfortunately, an ongoing process in the weeks and months to come."
An interim Senate report in April blamed the re-emergence of the disease - which was all but eradicated 30 years ago - on a "perfect storm" of regulatory failure, indifference from the mining industry, poor dust control and patchy health monitoring.
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