Inco charged in connection with Levack mine deaths

Charges have been laid against Inco and two Inco foremen in connection with an April 14 accident that killed four miners at the company’s Levack nickel mine in Sudbury.

Inco has been charged under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act with seven counts of failing to protect workers and of violating maintenance equipment regulations. Victor Grignon and Calvin Carmichael have been charged under the same provincial statute with two counts each of failing to take reasonable precautions to protect workers.

Inco worker Joseph Kuhle had been charged earlier with four counts of criminal negligence causing death. He is due to stand trial Jan 18, 1988.

The deaths occurred when tons of rock fell from a loading pocket where Khule was working down a shaft where the four miners were working 290 m below. The charges against Inco involve the maintenance of a gate that keeps ore from falling down the shaft. A coroner’s inquest into the deaths has not been called.