A operation to rescue miner Corey Braaten is still underway at the Seabee gold mine in northern Saskatchewan, and Neil McMillan, president of owner Claude Resources (CRJ-T, CGR-X) says “we are assuming he survived.”
Braaten, 29, was operating a load-haul-dump (LHD) machine on the 800-metre level of the mine on May 29, when he was reported missing by a supervisor making a routine walkaround check on underground miners. Access to the workplace where Braaten had last been seen was blocked by muck (broken ore or waste) in the drift.
McMillan told a conference call that it still was not clear what had happened in the drift, and that it was not yet possible to determine whether there had been a rockfall. Mine rescue teams had located the LHD Braaten had been operating, and a laser cavity-imaging device, lent to Claude by neighbour Cameco (CCO-T, CCJ-N), had established that the loader was sitting on broken rock about 10 metres above the 800-metre working level.
Claude staff have concluded that the fastest way into the area is not to remove the muck obstructing the drift, but to drive across from another part of the workings. That attempt to reach the miner was ongoing, with 31 workers and a number of drills and LHDs assigned to the task. McMillan said he would not speculate on how long drifting in might take.
Normal ground conditions in the area of the accident are good, McMillan said.
Workings below the area where Braaten is trapped are still intact, suggesting a report in The Globe and Mail that the footwall of the working had given way was false.
McMillan retains hope that Braaten will be found alive, saying the company is “treating this as a rescue operation on the assumption that he survived the accident.”
A year ago, two Australian miners, Brant Webb and Todd Russell, were rescued from the Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania after 13 days underground.
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