Video: Vale West, Glencore on top in mine competitions

Despite rock-hard competition, mine rescue volunteer teams representing Vale West Mines and Glencore Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations dug out a victory at the 2015 Sudbury & Onaping Districts Mine Rescue Competitions, held in Levack on May 8.

Four mine rescue teams — Vale West, Glencore, Vale East and KGHM — competed for supremacy in firefighting skills, first aid knowledge, use of emergency equipment and performance under stress. The competition was organized by Workplace Safety North and Ontario Mine Rescue in a stimulated underground emergency at the Levack Arena.

Dino Buttazzoni, mine rescue technician for KGHM, and Denis Prevost, of First Nickel, won the top technician awards in Onaping district and Sudbury district, respectively.

Seven district champions in the team and technician categories were selected in five mine rescue events across the province to go on to compete in the 65th Provincial Mine Rescue Competition on June 10-11 at Thunder Bay's Fort William Gardens.

The Vale West team consists of Captain Kevin Duff, Gord Sullivan, Jeff Farquharson, Jim Niesing, Darren Toner, Mario Ceccon, Nick Jones and briefing officer Paul Aho.


Glencore Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations is made of Captain Matt Lawrence, Ivan Tymchuk, Eric Perreault, Andrew Jorgensen, Richard Roy, Andre Lefebvre, Dave Wylie and briefing officer Paul Leclair.

Mine rescue volunteers are trained to save lives in case of mining emergencies like fires, explosions and cave-ins by Mine Rescue Officers/Consultants.