Authorities have confirmed the fourth case of black lung disease in the past week, taking the state’s total to 11 in the past year.
The latest patient is a 56-year-old who has worked at an underground coal mine in the Bowen Basin, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Mines.
Black lung disease, or coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), is caused by extended exposure to coal dust.
It was thought to have been eradicated about 30 years ago.
Over the weekend, a 39-year-old man was confirmed to have the disease.
On Thursday, a 62-year-old underground coal miner who had worked in Bowen Basin mines for 20 years was diagnosed with CWP.
A day earlier, the Department of Natural Resources and Mines confirmed a 55-year-old man had the disease.
A spokesman for the department said Queensland’s mining companies were offering workers new X-rays and the opportunity to have old X-rays re-read.