NO HEADLINE (June 13, 1994)

A fine of $470,00 has been levied against Noranda Minerals for safety violations in the death of an Ontario miner.

Noranda was convicted April 18 of three counts under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The convictions were the first for safety violations in the company’s history.

They were laid after a November, 1991, accident that resulted in the death of John Poster, 45, at Noranda’s Geco mine at Manitouwadge. Poster and a partner were aboard a raise climber when he was struck by falling rock. He died from head injuries a short time later.

Noranda Minerals, a unit of Noranda (TSE), says Geco will appeal the conviction and the fine.

Justice of the peace Gordon Buterin fined the company $20,000 for failing to obtain a proper permit for the raise climber, $200,000 for failing to ensure a supervisor examined an area where drilling and blasting were taking place during each work shift, and $250,000 for failing to ensure that a raise was made safe by scaling, timbering, rockbolting and other measures. Buterin said he wanted to make the fine substantial enough to warn other companies that safety violations will not be tolerated.