Recognizing Some Of Canada’s ‘Safest’ Miners

Safety is the number one priority for every mine owner and operator across Canada and as hard as everyone tries to achieve a perfect, accident-free record, the very nature of mining sometimes makes that difficult. Any time that people and machines work in close proximity with one another, especially underground, the odds for injury increase and as everyone knows, mining is a potentially dangerous business and accidents do happen. Luckily, most are minor, but they are a fact of mining that cannot be ignored.

On the other side of the ‘safety coin,” however, are a number of companies that do in fact run ‘accident-free’ operations and the one company that is leading the way in this category is Vale Inco’s Copper Cliff North Mine in the Sudbury Basin.

For the third consecutive year, the Copper Cliff North Mine has been awarded the John T. Ryan National Safety Trophy in recognition of being the “safest underground metal mine in Canada.”

Also receiving a John T. Ryan Safety Trophy in the select mine category was Potash Corporation’s New Brunswick Division, near Sussex, N. B., and in the coal category, the winner was Sherritt Coal’s Sheerness Mine, near Hanna, Alberta.

All three of the mines mentioned above reported “zero lost-time” injuries.

Continuing with ‘safety awards’ news, two companies in BC also received recognition recently from the Government of British Columbia’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources for Mine safety.

For the 10th consecutive year, Hills-borough Resources Limited’s Quinsam mine at Campbell River received an award for the “lowest lost-time accident frequency” in the small underground mine category and the Polaris Minerals Corporation’s Orca Sand & Gravel Ltd. subsidiary received the government’s Stewart/O’Brian Safety Award for having “zero lost time” at its Orca Quarry on Vancouver Island.

And finally on a ‘safety’ note, but one with a different twist comes news from Xstrata Nickel that it has closed its Montcalm Mine near Timmins for “safety reasons.” According to Montcalm’s

Mine Manager Keith Bullock, structural damage caused by unplanned ground movement has made the mine questionable and for the safety of the miners, it has been closed until further geotechnical monitoring has been assessed.

While the Montcalm situation is not in the same tone as the other ‘safety’ items featured here, it certainly deserves mention tion because of the responsible manner in which Xstrata Nickel is handling the unfortunate situation. Hats off to them in the name of safety.