(Recasts, adds comment from Indonesian govt)
MELBOURNE/JAKARTA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Indonesia's mining ministry will send a team of inspectors to a Newcrest Mining NCM.AX site in North Maluku where rescue efforts continue for a worker trapped by a cave-in late on Monday at the Gosowong gold mine.
The Gosowong mine, where operations have been suspended, is operated by Nusa Halmaherah Minerals, a joint venture between Australia's biggest gold producer Newcrest and Indonesia's state-owned miner Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) ANTM.JK .
As of Tuesday afternoon a team of rescuers had not been able to establish radio contact with the trapped worker, said Lydia Hardiani, a mining safety official at the Mining Ministry.
"The trapped worker is possibly still alive," Hardiani told reporters, noting that rescuers were now drilling through debris to provide oxygen to the worker.
Mining inspectors will travel to the site from Jakarta later on Tuesday to investigate the second such incident at Gosowong since 2010, she said.
"When the worker was drilling suddenly the mine collapsed. We are wondering why only one worker was there at that time. We will investigate this," Hardiani said.
Newcrest said it had suspended all mining and processing at Gosowong and did not know what caused the "geotechnical event" that led to a cave-in that damaged several mining levels.
"We don't know bad it is at this stage," Newcrest mining spokesman Jason Mills said. The company did not know whether the damage was caused by seismic activity, mining or some combination of the two.
The mine was evacuated immediately after the event and all personnel had been accounted for, except for the one employee who was believed to be trapped about 300 metres (984 ft)underground, Newcrest said.
Gosowong produced 141,000 ounces of gold in the December half, making up about 12 percent of the company's gold output.