‘Disgust’ and ‘concern’

I would like to express my disgust and concern at the editorial titled “All OK at K2” (T.N.M., Feb. 10-16/06), and the fact that a reputable national journal would sully its pages with such a prejudiced, obnoxious and factually inaccurate statement on the subject of mine safety.

In all of my 50 years in the mining industry — 18 years of which were spent as a mines inspector and mine safety consultant — I cannot recall ever reading an editorial so lacking in responsible journalism, sensitivity and knowledge of the subject under discussion. In the writer’s haste to vent his prejudices on our “Yankee cousins,” he conveniently forgot, or more likely has no knowledge of, the 40 Canadian coal miners who lost their lives at Devco and Westray mines in Nova Scotia just a few short years ago (the bodies of some miners remain missing). I want to inform the writer that Nova Scotia is in Canada and they can locate the province on a map of Canada just south of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I am also sure that the management team at the K2 underground potash mine in Saskatchewan were embarrassed to be hailed as heroes after the successful rescue of the miners trapped behind a fire in the underground workings. Had the mine been operating a strict “hot work” permit system for burning and welding operations underground — as is common practice in most underground and surface mining operations — and had a complete and continuous computerized mine air-monitoring system in operation, the fire would have been prevented — or failing that, detected and located long before it became the conflagration that threatened the lives of the miners underground. Mine environmental monitoring systems have been available to the mining industry for many years and have reached a degree of sophistication whereby combustible and toxic gases can be detected well before they become a fire or explosion hazard — a development which seems to have escaped the notice of mine engineers and regulators and, of course, the author of your editorial.

A properly engineered mine air-monitoring system can detect hazardous accumulations of gases from fires, dirty diesel engines and combustible gases at very low quantities, and alert a central control centre on the surface, registering the location of the hazard so that action can be taken before a fire or explosion can occur.

The promotion of sealed refuge stations as the ultimate protection against mine fires and explosions reminds me of the mindset that existed during the early years of the Cold War, when it was considered essential to build underground bomb shelters as a protection against a nuclear holocaust. Eventually, some thoughtful individual or committee concluded that these shelters only served to delay the inevitable, and that prevention of the holocaust was the only form of defence. Sealed refuge stations are a last resort, and as was proved at K2 mine, only work if you make it into one.

The comparison of mining fatalities in the U.S. with our own record is like comparing apples with fire trucks. The underground coal industry in Canada consists of two operations, located in Alberta and British Columbia, employing less than 300 miners to produce less than 3 million tonnes of coal per year. The underground coal operations in the U.S. number around 250 mines producing roughly 500 million tons per year.

Mining is a fraternity and it ill becomes any miner who criticizes or denigrates his comrades without full knowledge of the facts. The investigation into the Sago mine disaster is ongoing, and until it is completed and the report published by MSHA, sensible reporters will keep their pens in their pocket and find some other excuse to dump on our “Yankee cousins.”

R. F. King, Electrical Engineer

Brentwood Bay, B.C.