A fifth case of black lung disease has been confirmed in Queensland, prompting suggestions the numbers so far are just the "tip of the iceberg."

The potentially fatal disease, which can affect coal workers, was thought to have been eradicated in Australia, until new cases were discovered in Queensland's coal industry last year.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 51 seconds 3 m 51 s CFMEU representative Steve Smyth and Monash University's Professor Malcolm Sim discuss the latest case of black lung Download 7.1 MB

CFMEU state mining and energy division president Steve Smyth said the latest man to be diagnosed with black lung had submitted documents for a worker's compensation claim this week and his X-rays and scans had been sent to the United States for further examination.

"This actually now, unfortunately, may be the tip of the iceberg," he said.

"We believe that, whilst we welcome the review of the health scheme, that will not go far enough.

"There needs to be a public inquiry with an independent commissioner with public submissions to get to the bottom of this, [and the question of] how we can have such a terrible disease that people thought was eradicated, suddenly be back and maybe worse than ever."

Queensland's Department for Natural Resources and Mines confirmed the latest case this afternoon.

Apart from the five confirmed cases of black lung so far, there are another five 'potential cases,' in which the patients are waiting for the results of tests.

Mr Smyth said those potential cases included one Central Queensland man in his aged in his 30s, who had scans yesterday and now faced an anxious wait for results.

He repeated the union's claim that Australia lacked medical experts with the expertise to identify black lung disease from X-rays and other scans.

"Whilst we have trained and qualified radiologists here, we don't have people that can read these X-rays to a B-Reader standard.

"They say they will have, but they don't.

"That has been proven by the number of cases that have all been confirmed in the United States [after Australian X-rays were sent there] or have been confirmed by a lung biopsy, which is a very invasive procedure.

"It's a terrible state of affairs when here in Queensland in the 21st century we don't' have qualified people that can read these X-rays, for a disease that has been around since the 18th and 19th centuries."

A reference group examining the re-emergence of black lung is due meet in Brisbane next week.

Monash university's Professor Malcolm Sim, who is part of that group, said it was too early to say whether the current number of cases was 'the tip of the iceberg.'

"This is what we have been asked to do — to try and assess the extent of that and we will be doing that in several ways," he said.

"One [way] is that we will be doing a review of a random set of X-rays that are currently being compiled.

"So they will be reviewed by a panel of radiologists and respiratory physicians and we will assess the results of that and compare that against the original X-ray reports.

"That is really the only way that we can get some clarity around that issue.

"It's a really important one and we need to do it fairly quickly."

Professor Sim also rejected suggestions by the CFMEU that Queensland lacked suitably skilled radiologists to identify black lung cases.

"I think we do have a well-trained group of professionals in this country," he said.

"Perhaps what is needed is a greater awareness of the dust exposure in coal mines and also look at the ways the medical monitoring is reported back to the mines department."