Accidents at two gold mines, the Giant in the Northwest Territories and the Casa Berardi in Quebec, claimed the lives of two miners early in the new year.
At the Giant mine of Royal Oak Mines (TSE) in Yellowknife, N.W.T., load-haul-dump machine driver Robert Meszaros, 39, was crushed by the bucket of his vehicle while he was operating it by remote control.
In a statement before he expired, Meszaros said the accident was the result of his own error. Able to drive himself from the accident site, he complained of chest pains and was taken to the Yellowknife hospital where he was operated on and his condition stabilized. He died early next morning en route to a hospital in Edmonton, Alta., during an airlift operation. At the Casa Berardi mine of TVX Gold (TSE) and Golden Knight Resources (TSE) in northwestern Quebec, Olivier-Levi Gauvin, 52, was killed during an underground safety inspection at a drift face in the mine’s Deep Development project.
A miner with 30 years’ experience, Gauvin was a former mining supervisor and instructor. TVX said an investigation determined that Gauvin failed to detect a second piece of loose rock that was released when he was scaling a primary target of loose material. The accident was witnessed by a fellow miner.
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