Tragedy at Inco’s Levack nickel mine

Four miners, employees of Inco Ltd., have been killed underground at the company’s Levack nickel mine near Sudbury, Ont. Termed a “freak accident” by officals of the United Steel Workers of America, the union which represents Inco miners, the four died when a fall of loose ore collapsed an aluminum and steel barrier set up over their heads during a routine shaft inspection.

The men, Rene Bedard, Wilbrod Gauvin, Donald Knight and Germain St-Amour, rode a skip down the shaft during their inspection work. Tons of broken ore from a loading dock adjacent to the vertical shaft suddenly came loose, plunging 290m down the shaft and crushing the steel protective barrier erected over the miners.

The deaths bring the total to five, the number of miners who have died in one month at Inco’s Sudbury mines. The Levack, ironically, has been considered one of the safest mines on the continent, having received a five- star safety rating from the International Loss Control Institute in the U.S. — the only such mine to achieve the status in North America.