A group of mine operators shared the stage on May 1 when the awards for mining safety were presented at The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) gala as part of the annual CIM Convention in Montreal.
For the fourth year in a row, Teck Resources’ Greenhills Operation won the John T. Ryan Trophy in the coal category thanks to no reportable injuries at its site.
“This award really speaks to the strong commitment employees have made to their safety and the safety of their coworkers,” said Robin Sheremeta, Senior Vice President, Coal, Teck in a statement. “This is an outstanding achievement +and I commend everyone at Greenhills for their safety leadership and for working hard to achieve Teck’s vision of everyone going home safe and healthy every day.”
This is the sixth time overall that Greenhills has received the John T. Ryan National Safety Award since its inception.
Greenhills is located approximately eight kilometres northeast of Elkford. It is one of five steelmaking coal operations in the Elk Valley.
According to Teck, reserves at Greenhills are projected to support mining at current production rates for another 39 years.
For the third year in a row, Vale’s Voisey’s Bay nickel operation in Newfoundland and Labrador also earned the John T. Ryan Trophy.
The mine was just one of three surface or non-metal mineral mines in Canada to claim the prize. DeBeers Canada’s Victor diamond mine in Ontario also reported no injuries for the second year in a row and The Mosaic Company’s Belle Plaine potash mine in Saskatchewan had no injuries in 2016.
Goldcorp’s Eleonore mine in northern Quebec won the Ryan award for Canadian metal mines.
Ryan trophies were also awarded to mining operations in their respective regions. In Quebec Agnico Eagle’s Lapa mine earned the metal mine honours. Tata Steel’s DSO project took the select category in the east and Syncrude Canada’s Mildred Lake and Aurora operation in the west.
Glencore Canada’s Fraser Mine won for Ontario metals mines, New Gold’s New Afton won for metal mines in British Columbia and Yukon and Tantalum Mining Corp. of Canada’s Bernic Lake mine won for the Prairies, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
In handing out the awards, the CIM defined a reportable injury as an injury that results in lost work time or in reassigning the worker to other duties because of the injury. The reportable injury rate is calculated as total reportable injuries multiplied by 200,000 work hours, divided by the total number of hours worked at the operation.
CIM is a technical society for professionals connected to the mining industry.