Below is the statement Jon Treen, general manager of production services at Vale regarding the June 9 death of two Vale workers.
Thank you all for coming on this very sad day.
I’m going to read a brief statement and then I will do my best to answer your questions.
It is with deep regret that I inform you that two of our employees were fatally injured last night while working underground at the 3000-level of Stobie Mine.
The immediate families of the two employees have been notified, and we are extending our full support to them during this difficult time. The names of the individuals are being withheld out of respect for the families so that they can notify relatives and close friends.
One of the individuals had 11 years of service at Vale and the other individual had 6 years service with our company.
I can tell you that both individuals were skilled employees and wonderful people, and words cannot express how deep our sorrow is at their loss. They were loved and respected by many of their co-workers, so many of whom called them friends. In terms of what led to this tragedy, the incident is being investigated by the Ministry of Labour, the Greater Sudbury Police Services, and representatives of Vale and the United Steelworkers Local 6500.
The individuals were working in the area of an ore pass when at approximately 10:00 p.m. a run of material, or what we call muck, occurred, which overtook both individuals. Mine rescue was dispatched and emergency services called, however the individuals were both found with no vitals and pronounced dead on the scene.
All other employees working underground were brought to surface and safely accounted for.
Our Critical Incident Stress Management Team has been dispatched to Stobie Mine to offer personal support to friends and co-workers of the two individuals, and the scheduled day and night shifts at Stobie Mine have been cancelled. Our Employee Assistance Program is also available to all employees needing personal support during this difficult time.
This is a devastating loss and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families, friends and co-workers of these employees. We are all feeling this loss very deeply and will be concentrating our efforts on understanding exactly what occurred so that we can do everything we can to prevent this kind of incident from ever happening again.
