A fire broke out in an underground nickel mine in Thompson, Man. on the afternoon of April 5, when a piece of equipment burst into flames after being struck by a large chunk of falling debris. All 39 of the miners escaped and were unharmed.
Workers at the 2802 Complex of Vale Canada’s T1 Mine were using a remote control to operate a scoop tram, also known as a load-haul-dump (LHD), according to United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6166 president Murray Nychyporuk. The LHD was located in an open production block of a vertical-block mining shaft. The chunk fell onto the tram at about 3:30 p.m., crushing the equipment and causing the battery to short, which sparked the fire.
“The smoke created alertness,” explained Nychyporuk. After the mine’s warning system was fired, he added, all of the miners proceeded to underground refuge stations immediately.
A Vale press release noted that workers at an adjoining mine had also moved to safe rooms as a precaution and were let out by 10:00 p.m. that same day.
The fire was eventually contained to the equipment, and rescue teams returned seven of the miners to the surface before 7:00 the next morning, the Vale release added. All of the remaining workers had returned to the surface as of 1:25 p.m., with no injuries reported. The company initiated a fire watch as a standard practice.
“While the interruption to production and the damage to equipment are unfortunate,” Vale said in a press statement on April 6, “we are reassured by the fact that our fire and rescue procedures worked and we achieved zero harm to our people, who will be returning safely to their homes and families today.” The mine was back in full production by the following day.
Nychyporuk stated that he was satisfied with the company’s response to the incident. “The fire protocol and everything went to plan,” he said.
Vale and USW Local 6166 are conducting a joint investigation of the fire, to understand its cause and improve risk management.
“I think the concentration in that will be, ‘Can it be prevented?’” said Nychyporuk, referring to the investigation.
Ryan Land, manager of corporate affairs and organizational development with Vale’s Manitoba operations, said that such incidents aren’t common or routine occurrences, but take place from time to time.
“Damage to equipment and equipment fires do happen, and we are always looking for ways to prevent through maintenance and procedures,” said Land. “When it is not possible to manage risk to as reasonably achievable in operating equipment, we operate by remote, as in this situation.
“In many cases, an onboard fire-suppression system could have prevented this, to some degree,” Land added.
Nychyporuk pointed out the difficulty of preventing falling debris in situations in which equipment is being operated by remote.
“That’s all unsupported ground,” he said. “After you make the blast, you muck out the block with the scoop, and when the scoop has to go inside, the block goes onto remote. And the reason why – because it’s unsupported ground and you never support the ground. It’d be dangerous even doing that.” After the LHD finishes scooping, “you fill it up with whatever classification of fill you need: cement, slurry, rock, what have you.”
Nychyporuk added that LHD remotes have fire-suppression switches on them. But in this case, the fire was triggered by the tram’s crushed battery. “When the battery’s taken out, even that battery power’s for the fire suppression,” he said. “Is there something that the manufacturer can do? The size of the chunk, though – would a fire suppression even matter?
“That all has to be determined yet.”