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10 June, 2011
The ICEM today expressed sadness and anger at the deaths of two members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500 in Sudbury, Ontario, on Wednesday night, 8 June. The two miners died 900 metres underground at Vale’s Stobie nickel and copper mine when an overflow of broken rock, sediment, and water – known as muck – buried them.
The miners were identified yesterday as Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26. The two men were operating a scooptram at the No. 7 ore pass inside Stobie. An ore pass is a junction where ore is dropped from one level to the next. Sixty miners were working in the mine on the night shift when the fatalities occurred.
In a letter today to USW President Leo Gerard, himself a former mineworker in Sudbury, USW Canadian National Director Ken Neumann, and USW Local 6500 President Rick Bertrand, ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda stated: “It is a terrible tragedy and makes clear the inherent dangers for workers whose livelihoods are dependent on the mining industry. Please convey the sympathies of the entire ICEM global family of unions to the families of the two miners, as well as to all union members of Local 6500.” (See the full ICEM letter here.)
Vale’s Stobie nickel and copper mine
The ICEM also noted that USW’s expert team of safety and health investigators will probe the tragic circumstances to uncover what went wrong and to ensure a similar tragedy does not happen again. The ICEM stated the sad irony of the 8 June is that only eight days before the miners’ deaths, Vale was honoured with an award by the Canadian Institute of Mining as having the safest two metal mines in Canada.
Although the mines receiving the award were at Vale’s nickel operations in Thompson, Manitoba, mines from Sudbury won the same award consecutively from 2006 to 2009.
In a statement, Local 6500 President Bertrand said, “The Steelworkers will be involved in this investigation every step of the way. Once the investigation is complete we will work hard for the workplace to be restored to safe condition before it starts up again.”
The Stobie mine in Sudbury consists of two adjoining mines, an open cast one and an underground one where the tragedy occurred. Canada has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Convention.