Oretruck on fire at Murdochville

Two weeks after a fire claimed the life of a miner at the Noranda Minerals Inc. copper mine at Murdochville, Que., on the Gaspe Peninsula, a 13-ton oretruck caught fire underground. No injuries were reported.

The incident occurred at about 4 o’clock on a weekday afternoon at the 2,700-ft level of the E-32 zone of the Mines Gaspe mine. Twenty-one people were underground at that time: 14 were doing clean-up work at the 1,800-ft level and seven were conducting an investigation on the 3,400-ft level into the April 1 blaze.

All 21 people followed normal safety procedures and went to their designated safe areas where they had access to fresh air from the surface, Michel Lefebvre, vice-president operations, Mines Gaspe, said.

Emergency mine rescue teams extinguished the blaze and led the men to the surface. Cause of the oretruck fire is being investigated.

The investigation also continues into the April 1 fire which caused an estimated $10 million damage and has closed, temporarily at least, the mine. Surviving that blaze were 56 miners who had to spend the night and part of the next day underground.

Mines Gaspe is a division of Noranda Minerals and operates a copper mine and smelter with a capacity of 72,000 tons of copper anodes. The mine has approximately 650 workers.