Accident News No.0818

In a news release, Richard E. Stickler, acting Wednesday 3 September 2008 assistant secretary of labor for MSHA said, TAS: Mine inquest told 925 "Through its investigation of the tragic level 'not safe' accidents last year at Crandall Canyon, MSHA determined that the operator and its Extract from ABC Online, Australia engineering consultants demonstrated reckless An inquest has heard the Beaconsfield Gold regard for safety. MSHA has referred this case mine was warned by its geotechnical officer for possible criminal charges." that the area of a fatal rockfall was not safe for mining, six months before the accident. Previously, both the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and the The inquest into the death of Larry Knight was Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor shown a memo from geotechnical and and Pensions had requested a criminal probe geological engineer, Adrian Penney, to another of Crandall Canyon. House committee mine manager, expressing concerns about chairman, Rep. George Miller, D-California, safety on two levels after rockfalls in October said he believed that Laine Adair, General 2005. Manager of the Crandall Canyon mine, It said "the 915 and 925 failure zones would not "willfully misled" federal officials. be safe to rehabilitate sufficiently" to allow Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for Utah's U.S. further mining. Attorney, Brett Tolman, said that information Several months later, miners did return to the from both Miller's committee and MSHA's report 925 level, but it is not clear if they went to the on the dual mine pillar collapses will factor into areas Mr Penney was concerned about. decisions about possible criminal prosecution.

The fatal accident happened on the 925 level in Kevin Anderson, the attorney representing April 2006. Genwal Resources, which operated Crandall Canyon, told the Utah news media, Mr Penney said he thought all measures taken ""Regrettably, this report does not have the after the 2005 rockfalls were "adequate". benefit of all of the facts." He added that the Thursday 4 September 2008 report "appears to have been tainted in part by ten months of relentless political clamouring to ’RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR SAFETY’ lay blame for these tragic events." Genwal's parent company is Murray Energy. MSHA seeks criminal charges in Crandall Canyon coal mine Last July MSHA announced it has imposed $1.6 million in fines for violations by the mine disaster operator which directly contributed to the Little more than a year after nine men deaths of six miners who were trapped when a ultimately perished in a disaster in a Utah catastrophic coal outburst accident occurred on coal mine, MSHA has finally decided to August 7, 2007. Coal was blown into the mine seek criminal charges against mine opening in a section, which likely caused fatal operator Genwal Resources. injuries to miners Kerry Aldred, Don Erickson, Jose Luis Hernandez, Juan Carlos Payan, Extract from MineWeb, USA Brandon Phillips and Manuel Sanchez. The and Health Administration announced Wednesday that the agency has Three more men died on August 16, 2007, asked the U.S. Attorney for Utah to conduct a when another coal outburst hurt rescue criminal investigation into the August 2007 workers. Miners Dale Black and Brandon Crandall Canyon disaster, which Kimber and MSHA inspector Gary Jensen were ultimately killed nine men. killed.

NOTE: Views expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of the NSW Department of Primary Industries. Editor: Mark Freeman Page 1 Mining Accident News No.0818

Anderson told the press that "the facts make sure everyone is in the right frame of demonstrate that Genwal Resources Inc. mind to know how about working safely." endeavored in good faith to follow safe mining He said a review of the 8000-staff work practices and truly believed the mine was safe- suspension would occur later today. a belief that was shared at the time by MSHA itself." The employee of mine operator Henry Walker Eltin Mining was treated by mine site paramedics but died at the scene of the Friday 5 September 2008 accident. WA: BHP halts iron operations The man's family has been notified, but his after worker dies name has not been released. Extract from Sydney Morning Herald WA Department of Consumer and Employment BHP Billiton's iron ore operations throughout Protection spokesman Peter Lewis said his Western Australia have been suspended after agency was aware of the fatality and was the second fatality at the Yandi mine in two investigating as part of the coronial inquiry. weeks. He said that if endemic safety concerns were Police were called to the mine, 140 kilometres identified, the department had the power to north-west of Newman, late yesterday close Yandi mine down under WA's Mine afternoon. Safety Inspection Act.

Police Media's Greg Lambert said preliminary The fatality is the second at Yandi in the past inquiries revealed the 19-year-old Northam man fortnight, and the third at a BHP-owned Pilbara was killed in a motor vehicle accident while facility in the past two months. working at the mine. On August 26, a 29-year-old man died in a Sergeant Lambert said a coronial investigation workshop accident at the mine. had begun into the death. That man, also an employee of Henry Walker Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union Eltin Mining, was a fly-in, fly-out employee from assistant secretary Joe McDonald said he Mandurah. understood a Haulpak-style mining dump truck On July 29, a 52-year-old man died at BHP's had rolled over the top of the man's vehicle. railway workshop at the Nelson Point Works, "There's deaths every week in the North-West near Port Hedland. now, it's disgraceful," Mr McDonald said. WA Premier Alan Carpenter said that Deputy Perth-based BHP Billiton spokesman John Premier Eric Ripper would be talking to BHP Crowley confirmed 6000 staff at the company's today about the incident. seven iron ore mines and Port Hedland "I only have very scant details...obviously safety shipping facility would not start work at their has to come first,'' Mr Carpenter said. normal times today.

In addition, the operations of 2000 staff at the USA: Violation Cited in Fatal mining giant's Perth head office would be Mine Accident in April suspended. ABINGDON, Va. – Notices of violation were "We take any fatality very seriously, so we have issued in one of two recent fatal mining suspended all operations in WA Iron Ore until accidents in Southwest Virginia, said Mike further notice," Mr Crowley said. Abbott, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. "We have lost now two people, and within our business people come first, and we want to

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The Osaka Mining Corporation Mine No. 1, mining bureau. A woman who answered the where 61-year-old David Sizemore was killed in phone at the coal mining bureau hung up a roof fall April 22, received a notice of violation without answering questions. for failure to contact the Division of Mines within 's coal mines are the world's deadliest, 15 minutes after the accident, according to with numerous fires, and other disasters information Abbot provided via e-mail from a killing an average of 13 miners a day. Many draft report. accidents are blamed on small mines with low “There were three (3) other violations issued as safety standards or those operating illegally. a result of personnel interviews and a spot The government has promised for years to inspection of the 001 Section which did not improve mine safety but energy-hungry China contribute to the accident,” according to the e- depends on coal for most of its power mail. generation. The mine has been allowed to return to normal Local Coal Mine Safety officials rushed to the operations, according to the e-mail. mine to guide rescue efforts, the report said. It No notices of violation have been issued thus said an investigation into the cause is under far for Consolidation Coal Company’s way. Buchanan No. 1 Mine after a roof fall there killed 44-year-old Elden Todd Meadows on July Sunday 7 September 2008 25, according to the e-mail. 18 miners trapped in inundated Those normal operations have been allowed to resume, the scene of that accident must remain coal mine in central China undisturbed as part of an order on closure. Extract from Press Trust of Beijing - Eighteen miners were trapped in a Investigation of both incidents is still ongoing, flooded coal mine today in central China's according to the e-mail. Final reports on the Henan province, in a third mining accident this accidents have not yet been released. week. Chinese report says 24 killed in Sixty two miners were involved in maintenance mine accident work at the mine when the accident occurred Extract from Associated Press & China Daily early this morning, official news agency Xinhua BEIJING (AP) — A inside a mine said. in northeast China on Thursday killed 24 people While 38 managed to escape the flooded area, and injured six, local authorities and state six have been rescued, it said. Eighteen media said. Three others were trapped inside. workers, however, remained trapped inside the The official said the 9 mine. a.m. accident happened in a coal mine in the "The six who were rescued were not seriously city of Fuxin in province. Rescuers injured. They were sent to a local hospital for were searching for the three trapped people, it observation," a spokesman with the rescue said, citing local authorities. headquarters was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Forty-one miners were working inside at the Efforts are on to save the trapped miners, with time. Xinhua said 14 managed to return to the over 40 rescuers equipped with six pumps surface on their own. dispatched to pump out water from the pit A spokesman at the Fuxin safety bureau inundated by about 300 cubic meters of water, confirmed the explosion but would not provide the spokesman said. further details. The man, who refused to give his name, referred questions to the local coal

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At least ten miners were killed after a coal mine MSHA Rule Would Require gas blast in south-west China's Sichuan Drug, Alcohol Testing Province on Friday. U.S. miners who perform safety-sensitive jobs Twenty seven people were killed and six were and their supervisors will be randomly tested injured on Thursday after a mine gas explosion for alcohol, amphetamines, marijuana, and in north-eastern Liaoning Province numerous other drugs, except when they are used in accordance with a valid prescription, if Monday 8 September 2008 MSHA finalizes a rule it proposed today. Mine operators could test for additional drugs South : Mine fatality beyond the list contained in the rule, which angers unions includes barbiturates, benzodiazepines such THE death on Friday of the 117th worker to as Valium and Xanax, cocaine, methadone, lose his life on a mine this year has added to opiates, PCP, and synthetic and semi- union anger about mine safety, which was synthetic opioids such as hydrocodone, under the spotlight during a health and safety hydromorphine, oxymorphone, and summit on Friday. oxycodone. Testing would also be required for these substances prior to emloyment; after an It was reported at the weekend that a worker accident if the miner may have contributed to had been killed in an accident at Kroondal, a the accident, based on reasonable suspicion joint venture between Anglo Platinum and that a miner has used a prohibited substance, Aquarius Platinum. and when miners who have violated the rule The National Union of Mineworkers said: “Yet return to duty. another mine worker died last night [Friday]. The rule says only requires miners This time at Anglo Platinum in Rustenburg. to be tested for alcohol. There is no much “The worker died due to a rock-related accident data on the size of the drug and alcohol at Shaft K5 on night shift.” problem in the U.S. mining sector, although Sapa quoted Aquarius as saying that a site federal and state authorities have held inspection was carried out on Friday night by hearings, symposia, and training programs to Aquarius management, the inspectorate for obtain data. MSHA acknowledged the data safety and health from the department of gap in the rule but said evidence suggests minerals and energy, Redpath Mining some fatal incidents have occurred that management and union representatives. involved miners who had used alcohol or drugs. The rule also would prohibit Operations relating to the use of trackless possession of alcohol or drugs on mine equipment have been suspended at the shaft property and would require mine operators, while the drivers of load haul dump vehicles are within a year of the rule's effective date, to retrained. implement alcohol- and drug-free mine Solidarity spokesman Reint Dykema said it programs consisting of a written policy, seemed that “it’s an accident a day [at the employee education, supervisory training, and mines]”. referrals to assistance for miners who violate the policy. The proposed rule defines safety- Business Times reported yesterday that the sensitive job duties as "activities where a number of mine deaths was slightly down this lapse of critical concentration could result in year compared with last year. an accident, serious injury, or death."

Comments are due by Oct. 8. The rule requires mine operators to provide one opportunity for violators to get help and retain

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their job, but it leaves it to the operator to determine the disciplinary consequences for Mine death inquest to hear subsequent violations. MSHA estimates it more evidence would cost mine operators about $16 million Extract from ABC Online, Australia to comply with the rule in year one and about A senior miner will continue giving evidence $13 million to comply each year thereafter. today into last year's fatal mine accident in Current accident investigations do not Queensland's central highlands. routinely include an inquiry into the use of Wayne Pickstone was the mine deputy at the alcohol or drugs, according to the rule, which Moranbah North Mine on the day Jason Blee, adds, "and this is a failure that the proposed 33, was killed. rule intends to address." Visit He died after being crushed by mining http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8- machinery in April 2007. 20561.htm to read the full text of the rule. Mr Pickstone yesterday told the court he had Tuesday 9 September 2008 overlooked completing a statutory report into the incident while on his shift. 26 killed in landslide in Chinese Today, the Coroner's Court is expected to hear mine-warehouse evidence from two employees from Walter Extract from RTTNews.com Mining, the contracting company that Mr Blee Monday, more than 26 persons were killed in a worked for. landslide in a mine-warehouse in north China's In yesterday's proceedings, it was revealed Mr Shanxi Province, according to reports available. Blee's widow Rachel was told of her husband's Several people remain trapped in the death via a text message from a worker at warehouse of the Tashan Mine in Xiangfen another mine. County, Linfen City, which was drenched by The inquest is due to continue for the rest of the torrential rain. week. The accident at the mine-warehouse occurred around 8 a.m., local time. Aquarius Platinum says miner

Local police and residents are engaged in dies in accident at Kroondal's rescue operations. The exact number of K5 shaft casualties is not yet finalized. Extract from Forbes.com

The warehouse in the mountainous area is LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Aquarius being used to store waste material from the Platinum Ltd. said an employee of mining mining operation. contractor Redpath Mining was killed in an accident involving a load haul dump vehicle at Chinese mines are plagued by high rate of Kroondal's K5 shaft in on Friday. accidents, which kill an estimated 10,000 miners every year due to outdated equipment The country's Department of Minerals and and poor safety precautions. Energy suspended use of all trackless mining machinery at Kroondal mine and the adjacent Thursday, 27 mines were killed and six others Marikana mine while drivers are retrained, wounded in a gas explosion at a coalmine in Aquarius said, adding it must wait for north-eastern China's Liaoning province. government permission to restart these operations.

An investigation by company, government and union representatives is still pending.

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Mine worker dies in accident at Accidents are a regular occurrence in Grootegeluk China's mining industry. Official figures say Extract from Mineweb 3,800 people were killed in mining accidents last year, but independent Yesterday afternoon a third mine worker since Friday's summit of the Mine Health and Safety observers say the real figure is much Council died in another mining accident. In the higher. latest incident a contractor at Exxaro's Grootegeluk coal mine outside Ellisras died Wednesday 10 September 2008 when a structure collapsed. Another two contractors were seriously injured. Union plans to down tools at several SA mines to mourn "It is the third death in South African mines deaths since management of mining companies and the department of minerals and energy affairs Extract from Mining Weekly Online, South Africa discussed an encompassing action plan for The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on mining safety. The death toll for 2008 already Wednesday called on all its members to stands on 119," explains Solidarity observe a day of mourning whenever a mining spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans. Kleynhans is of accident claimed the life of a mineworker. the opinion that the implementation of safety This comes as 5 000 workers had downed tools action plans should be done urgently to prevent at gold producer DRDGold’s Blyvooruitzicht the loss of more lives on South African mines mine, in Carletonville, to mourn the death of a and emphasises that the trade union supports colleague the week before. the review of incentive schemes linked to production. “We are saying that we have zero tolerance towards mining accidents, and that safety is The department of minerals and energy affairs important for us as workers. When a worker has meanwhile started an investigation into the dies, we will mourn,” NUM spokesperson incident. Lesiba Seshoka told Mining Weekly Online.

56 killed in Chinese mining DRDGold spokesperson James Duncan, accident meanwhile, said that it was too early too Extract from Radio Worldwide estimate what the impact of Wednesday’s downing of tools would be on the mine’s At least 56 people in northern China have production. been killed in a mudslide at an iron ore mine. Dozens of people were injured and He expected production to resume with the the authorities say hundreds are missing. A night shift on Wednesday. reservoir holding ore dregs near the town On September 4, a mineworker had died, while of Taoshi collapsed, covering roads and three others had been injured at the houses in several metres of mud and Blyvooruitzicht mine, after a seismic event had sludge in just minutes. Aid workers are triggered a rockfall underground. This had been the second death at the mine in a three-week searching for survivors. period. The director of the mine and eight Further, the NUM was also planning a day of company officials have been arrested. The mourning at Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine, mine was illegal, did not comply with safety near Carletonville, on Thursday, with 6 000 regulations, and the stored waste had workers expected to participate. surpassed the capacity of the reservoir.

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On September 1, the mine reported that two of Mr Hills was shown a report which recorded its employees had died during the previous large seismic events in the week before Anzac weekend, while gold and uranium producer Day, as well as reports from shift bosses that Simmer and Jack Mines had reported a death the mine was "active all night" three days at its Buffelsfontein gold mine owing to a before the rockfall. seismic event. Mr Hills told the inquest he "wasn't surprised" Harmony Gold executive for investor relations by this level of activity, which was caused by Marian van der Walt told Mining Weekly Online firing . that it had been informed of the NUM’s plans He said he thought the seismic activity was and that the gold producer was in full diminishing in the days before the major event. agreement with the union regarding this.

She added that the Elandsrand mine would China landslide kills 151, hopes hold a safety shift early on Thursday morning, fade for missing after which employees would attend a memorial Extract from International Herald Tribune, France service. XIANGFEN, China: A landslide that unleashed Van der Walt said a day of production would be a three-story wave of mud and iron ore waste at lost and that production would resume on an illegal mining operation has killed at least Friday. 151 people and authorities fear the death toll could climb by hundreds more, state media said Meanwhile, Seshoka said that the union would on Thursday. ideally like a day of mourning to be arranged at Pamodzi Gold’s Orkney mine, Aquarius In a matter of minutes, the mud and waste Platinum’s Kroondal mine, and Exxaro’s inundated an entire village of 1,000 people and Grootegeluk mine, where mining accidents an outdoor market with hundreds of patrons on have collectively claimed three lives during the Monday in Shanxi province's Xiangfen county, last two weeks. the China Daily newspaper reported, citing witnesses. However, he noted that such action was usually arranged by the NUM’s branches and not by State media put the official death toll at 151 the union’s head office. people with 36 more injured.

Nearly 120 mineworkers have already died in Authorities have declined to state a figure for mining accidents this year. the number of missing people, saying an investigation is continuing. But news reports Thursday 11 September 2008 said hundreds may be buried in the mud. "There's almost no hope of their survival ... they Mine inquest told of seismic have been buried for three days under two increase meters (yards) of slush," Wang Jun, head of the State Administration of Work Safety, said in the Extract from ABC Online, Australia China Daily report. A Beaconsfield mine manager has told an inquest he knew seismic activity at the mine Wang said there could be several hundred had increased in the week before a fatal people buried under the sludge, according to rockfall. the report.

The Chief Geologist Peter Hills has given But Huang Yi, a spokesman of the evidence at the Launceston inquest into the administration, later told The Associated Press death of miner Larry Knight in the 2006 Anzac that Wang had not commented on the possible Day collapse. number of people buried.

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Calculating that number is made particularly a local mining company were holding a weekly difficult because most of the mine workers were meeting, the Shanghai Morning Post said. migrants from elsewhere in Shanxi, or from The disaster underscores two major public and central Hubei province. safety concerns in China: the failure to enforce One of the worst-hit areas was Yunhe, the protective measures in the country's notoriously village where the market was located. Yunhe deadly mines, and the unsound state of many sits in a valley at the foot of Tashan, the hill on of its bridges, dams and other aging which the iron ore mine was operating. infrastructure.

Yunhe's 1,300 residents were mainly farmers of There are more than 9,000 mine waste dumps wheat, corn and other crops, but also throughout China, and more than half of them supplemented their wages by providing operate without work safety permits, the CCTV transport to the nearby mines, according to a report said. local government Web site's official description of the place. Friday 12 September 2008 Most of the patrons of the outdoor market were Mine rockfall not preventable: migrant workers from the mine and residents of Inquest neighboring villages, with many buying food to Extract from ABC News Online, Australia prepare for the upcoming mid-autumn festival A manager at the Beaconsfield Gold mine has holiday, state media reported. told an inquest he is convinced the fatal rockfall All that was left after the mudslide were a more than two years ago could not have been handful of two-story buildings that remained prevented. standing on the fringe of the sludge, which The mine's Chief Geologist Peter Hills has spanned an area the size of four football fields. given evidence at the Launceston inquest into More than 2,000 police, firefighters and the death of miner Larry Knight. villagers were mobilized in the search for the He told the inquest that mine management and missing, while police sealed off the village with experts agree the seismic event on Anzac Day checkpoints on all roads leading to it, blocking 2006 was so great that no ground support could access to unauthorized vehicles. have held the rock in place. Officers were still visiting various households in He said the mine now uses methods that avoid the area and interviewing residents for a final miners going into risky areas because tally on the number of people missing or buried, managers "weren't satisfied" any support state news broadcaster CCTV said in its system would be able to withstand another midday bulletin. similar event. A preliminary investigation showed the Mr Hills' evidence has concluded the eighth landslide was triggered by heavy rains that week of hearings. brought down a retaining wall at a waste dump operated by an illegal mine, said Wang Dexue, The inquest will resume later this month when deputy head of the State Administration of Mine Manager Matthew Gill will be called to Work Safety. give evidence.

The wall's collapse sent a wave of mud and It is now unclear whether the Coroner Rod iron waste over the town, located just below the Chandler will present his findings before the waste site. Gray sludge also flooded the valley, end of the year, as the final submissions from washing out homes, cars, and buildings, the lawyers are not due until November. including one where more than 100 people from - Ed.

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