Todd Russell has confronted his demons by returning deep underground in the Tasmanian gold mine where he and a workmate were entombed for two weeks last year.
"It was a little bit easier than the last time I was down there," Mr Russell joked when he re-emerged from the Beaconsfield mine in the state's north east on Monday afternoon.
"There were no tears or lumps in my throat, it was just business as usual."
Mr Russell and his mate Brant Webb miraculously survived after an underground rockfall trapped them and another workmate Larry Knight almost a kilometre below the surface.
It took rescuers a fortnight to reach them, but Mr Knight didn't make it - he was thought to have perished in the rockfall.
Mr Russell on Monday returned to the scene of the tragedy, descending with its manager Alasdair Martin, chief executive Bill Colvin and Australian Workers Union boss Bill Shorten to check on its safety, ahead an expected resumption of full production in December.
He said he spent about 90 minutes underground and checked the area close to where he and Mr Webb were trapped.
"We were in the area where it happened, the cross cut where we came out," he said.
Asked if he thought that part of the mine looked visually any safer, he said: "The bolting procedures are heavier than when we were down there, but this is the mining industry and you never know if there is going to be an accident
The area close to where rockfall occurred will be mined remotely in future.
Mr Russell said he had been underground at other mines since the disaster in his new job with Johnex Explosives.
"I now sell explosives to mines, including Beaconsfield, " he said.
"I still go underground when training is required or an investigation needs to be done."
Earlier, Mr Russell's wife Caroline was concerned about how he would cope with returning to the scene of the tragedy.
"He should be alright," Mrs Russell said hopefully.
"We won't know until he comes out, but I know he is a strong willed man."
She need not have worried.
The burly miner said he felt completely at ease.
"I'm a big boy now, I can look after myself," he said.
Mr Webb, who is now an apprentice outboard mechanic, was in Melbourne on Monday.
Workplace Standards Tasmania has now lifted operational restrictions placed on the mine since the accident and its chief inspector, Don Schofield, said the final case for safety at the mine had been accepted.
"There is a high potential for continued seismic activity in production areas in the west of the mine," he said.
"To compensate for this, future mine support has been engineered to safely support a significant event.
"Some excavation in the west of the mine will have limited access by remotely operated machinery only, with no one entering the ore body."
West Tamar Mayor Barry Easther welcomed the announcement of the mine returning to full production made to the Australian Stock Exchange on Monday morning.
"This is one of the town's most significant days since the rock fall," Mr Easther said.
"The eyes of the world were upon us and out of the tragedy two miners were successfully rescued.
"Today, we have the good news that the mine is now able to resume full operations.
"We still have the inquest into Larry's death but this will go some way to bringing complete closure to the rock fall tragedy."
Mr Shorten, the national secretary of the AWU and a Labor candidate in the coming federal election, said the union would reserve judgment until all safety information and interviews with miners were carried out.
"This mine has seismicity, and safety standards would have to be extraordinary," he said.