A 22-year-old Gold Coast man says he's struggling to cope with social isolation, after becoming the youngest Queenslander to be diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease, silicosis.

Key points: Connor Downes can no longer work as a stonemason and says his days are now just filled with medical appointments

Connor Downes can no longer work as a stonemason and says his days are now just filled with medical appointments A Queensland audit has revealed 98 stone industry workers have silicosis and 15 of those cases are terminal

A Queensland audit has revealed 98 stone industry workers have silicosis and 15 of those cases are terminal Earlier this year, the disease claimed the life of 36-year-old Gold Coast stonemason Anthony White

The incurable condition is caused by exposure to silica dust from engineered stone benchtops and Connor Downes had been working with the material for just three years when he submitted himself for testing after a workmate was diagnosed.

"When they did the respiratory tests with the CT scan you could straight away see the nodules all through my lung, big white powder sort of thing everywhere," he said.

"It has been a pretty rough process and right now I'm not allowed to work in the stone industry, there are a lot of jobs that I am not allowed to work in.

"All my friends work so I don't have human interaction during the day now.

"It is tough because my days aren't getting filled with a whole lot apart from doctors appointments."

Law firm Slater and Gordon has established a national registry of workers affected by the silica dust, in preparation for a class action against the manufacturers of the stone bench tops.

The incurable condition is caused by exposure to silica dust from dry-cutting engineered stone benchtops. ( ABC News )

Lawyer Nick Hart said there had been a surge in people adding their names to the list.

"There has been a high increase in the number of workers approaching the firm that have been involved in this industry working with artificial stone benchtops, who have contracted the disease," he said.

"This is extremely distressing to the young men that have been impacted by this industry.

"The young men impacted by this epidemic are now facing an enormous amount of uncertainty."

An audit of Queensland's manufacturing stone industry in February revealed 98 workers had contracted the disease; 15 of those were terminal.

Since then, 36-year-old Gold Coast stonemason Anthony White passed away from the disease, which the latest victim Mr Downes said was a distressing time.

"That really hit hard seeing him pass away from the disease, that we have just been diagnosed with," he said.

"It's not something you want when you are young and you want to have a future, if you want to buy a house and all that sort of stuff.

"You can't do that when you're on compensated work."