Search for lost mine workers James Hawke, Mitchell Balmer-Allen ends in relief

Mine workers James Hawke (pictured) and Mitchell Balmer-Allen have been found safe after failing to arrive at a northern Goldfields site on Monday afternoon.  (Supplied: ABBA Engineering )

Engineering firm owner Lindsay MacDonnell went into emergency mode when two of his workers failed to turn up to a remote site in the northern Goldfields on Monday.

ABBA Engineering workers James Hawke and Mitchell Balmer-Allen were headed to a new remote gold mine, north of Leonora, but didn't arrive. 

Mr MacDonnell put a call out through social media which was shared more than 1,400 times in the first few hours. 

"This community has been absolutely amazing," Mr MacDonnell said. 

James Hawke (pictured) and colleague Mitchell Balmer-Allen were found safe on Tuesday morning. (Supplied: ABBA Engineering)

Search parties mobilise on land and in air

Mr MacDonnell then contacted police and a local helicopter company volunteered to assist in a large scale search on Tuesday morning. 

"It was 25 vehicles ready to go and we were going to strip down every single track," he said.

The alarm was raised after mine workers failed to arrive at a remote site in the WA northern Goldfields. (ABC Goldfields: Rhiannon Stevens)

But that night a police jet noticed something on its air search of the area. 

Men found safe

"They ended up basically locating a fire and a beacon in the middle of the bush at about 2:15am," Mr MacDonnell said.

Police sent in a ground crew within the next hour. 

"They had a better sleep than all of us actually."

Mr MacDonnell said the workers had taken a wrong turn off a main highway. 

"He's ended up about 8km in and because he was driving a truck with a trailer on the back and he couldn't find a point for turning around," he said. 

He said Mr Hawke and Mr Balmer-Allen told him their plan was to stay put, which was the right strategy.

"They had food, they had water, they had a heater so they were staying there," Mr MacDonnell said

"They said, 'we knew that you guys would find us in the end we were just keeping the fire going, keeping the flashing light on and we knew that you would find us'."

Community response appreciated

Mr MacDonnell said the response by the community left him "very humbled". 

"A huge thank you to the emergency response team, you guys did an absolutely amazing job," Mr MacDonnell said.

"My staff members basically dropped absolutely everything to jump up, Circle H Helicopters dropped everything to make sure that we would have a helicopter ready first thing in the morning if we needed it."

The two men were stranded near Leonora, in WA's northern Goldfields region.  (Hadi Zaher / Flickr CC BY)

The Kalgoorlie resident said it was a touching reminder of the generosity of Goldfields locals.