1 ALASKA
A report from two environmental groups claims a proposed gold and copper mine northeast of Ketchikan is too risky to build.
The report said British Columbia’s Kerr- Sulphurets-Mitchell project threatens the safety of Alaska and B.C. salmon.
“The most significant risk associated with what KSM is proposing is the unprecedented volume of water that the mine is planning to manage and treat,” says Bonnie Gestring, of the Montana office of Earthworks, a conservation organization focused on mines.
She says it will handle more than 20 billion gallons a year, nearly eight times the volume of the next-largest open pit mine in North America.
Another major concern is the tailings dam, which will store waste rock. The report calls it a failed technology condemned by a Canadian report on another mine’s dam breach last summer.
www.ktoo.org/2015/06/17/new-report-questions-ksmmines- safety/
2 UNITED STATES
A 59-year-old miner died on May 31 at Peabody Energy’s Gateway Mine near Coulterville, Illinois.
Glen Campbell, of Sparta, was pronounced dead, after coworkers found him about 2.5 miles into the mine. An autopsy has been conducted, but a cause of death has not been determined. Dudenbostel declined to release more details while the investigation is ongoing.
“It’s still under investigation,” he said. “He did suffer some trauma.”
Dudenbostel’s office as well as the Mine Safety and Health Administration and Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident. St. Louis-based Peabody Energy recognized Gateway Mine in 2009 and 2011 as the safest underground mine in the company.
3 CANADA
A female worker was killed on May 23 at Holt gold mine in the St Andrew Goldfields, near Kirkland Lake in Ontario. St Andrew Goldfields Ltd said 22-yearold Alexie Dallaire-Vincent was killed after an underground rail haulage accident at the mine.
“We are deeply saddened by this news and our sincere condolences go out to the family, fellow workers and friends,” Duncan Middlemiss, president and CEO of the company said in a press release.
The woman is believed to be the first female miner to die in Ontario. The company, as well as Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of Labour, are investigating.
4 QUEBEC
Workers at IAMGOLD’s Westwood Mine in Preissac, Quebec, were worried about heading back underground, following a collapse that left nine miners trapped for 18 hours in May.
Seismic activity triggered the collapse early morning on the 104 level of the mine, about one kilometre underground. Rescuers used remote-controlled machinery to clear debris and finally brought the last man to the surface at around 9:30 pm.
Quebec’s Workplace Health and Safety Board shut down the section where the collapse occurred and 10 levels above it. The Westwood mine is located over the Cadillac fault and has experienced several seismic events since it began production in July 2014.
5 SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa’s mines minister hailed 2014 as the “safest year” in the history of an industry that has claimed a huge toll in mostly black lives over the past century.
“There has been a reduction of about 86 percent in fatalities from 615 in 1993 to 84 in 2014, which is the safest year on record for the South African mining industry,” Ngoako Ramatlhodi said.
Last year was exceptional for South African mining, with a five-month strike that brought most of the industry’s platinum production to a halt – a factor that probably contributed to the record as it meant tens of thousands of miners were not underground and exposed to danger during that time.
6 TURKEY
In a tragic coincidence for families of victims, executives and personnel from two mining companies went on trial on June 15, for last year’s mining disasters that left 319 people dead in western and central Turkey. The defendants are accused of work safety negligence that is presumed to have caused the miners’ deaths.
In Ermenek, 16 defendants appeared before a court in regards to the deaths of 18 miners who were trapped in a privately run mine that flooded in October 2014. It took one month for their bodies to be recovered.
Meanwhile, the second hearing of the trial in the country’s worst mining disaster, which killed 301 miners in the western town of Soma, was adjourned. Eight imprisoned defendants, including the mine’s manager and the CEO of the company running the mine, face life sentences on charges of killing with eventual intent and inflicting heavy injury.
www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2015/06/15/trials-forlast- years-two-mining-disasters-underway
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