(1)  Subject to section 25 (2) , where–

(a) a mining employee is suffering from silicosis, carbon-monoxide poisoning, pneumoconiosis, cadmium poisoning, fibrosis of the lungs, ankylostomiasis, lead poisoning and its results, nystagmus, arsenic poisoning or contact dermatitis caused by work; and

(b) he or she has been engaged continuously in mining operations in Tasmania for a period of 2 years immediately before ceasing to be employed as a mining employee and is incapacitated from continuing to work as such–

his or her employment is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, taken to have contributed to a substantial degree to that disease.

(2)  For the purposes of subsection (1) , a mining employee is taken to have been engaged continuously in mining operations in this State for the period mentioned in that subsection, notwithstanding that he or she may, at any time after that period commenced, have been absent from his or her employment for any periods not exceeding 3 months in the aggregate.