‘‘He was all about having a good time and laughs,’’ Ricky, 23, said yesterday.

Last Tuesday marked one year since Alistair Michael Lucas, 25, and Craig Nigel Gleeson, 45, fell to their deaths while working at Queenstown’s Mt Lyell copper mine.

A third miner, Michael Welsh, was killed in a mud rush on the lowest level of the mine the following month and the mine has since been closed.

Ricky, one of Alistair’s two brothers, said not a day went by when he didn’t think about his ‘‘role model’’.

‘‘It’s been tough but with the support of everyone else, we’re getting through it,’’ he said.

Alistair, or Big Al as he was known, had a love for basketball and had started the job that he loved as a boilermaker welder straight out of high school.

Ricky said the Queenstown community had helped a lot since the day he lost his brother, especially with looking after Alistair’s fiance’s 3-year-old son Kobe.

‘‘(Kobe) still doesn’t really understand it but everyone helps him out when they can, so it’s pretty good,’’ Ricky said.

A plaque with Alistair and Craigs’ names was put at the mine on Tuesday, when a private memorial was held in their honour.

Ricky now lives in Burnie and also works in a mine, following in his father Philip’s footsteps.

He said working at Renison Bell Mine was hard some days.

‘‘Working at heights, it makes me weary and going near edges it just makes you a bit more aware,’’ Ricky said.

But despite the two incidents, Ricky said he wanted to see the Mt Lyell mine re-open soon.

‘‘Down there that’s pretty much the only opportunity you have for work and a decent wage.

‘‘I definitely want it to open back up - as long as it’s safe - because everyone’s starting to have to move away to find work.

‘‘(The closure) affects a lot of people down there especially family and all my close friends.’’

Work is already happening to re-open the mine, with owner Vedanta Copper Mines of Tasmania announcing earlier this week that it was optimistic about a re-opening.

About $6 million had been spent on the mine’s tailings dam to meet environmental obligations and a further $5 million has been committed to exploration programs.

A WorkSafe report into the miners deaths is yet to be released and won’t be until the incidents they relate to are no longer the subject of legal proceedings.