Legislative Library, OT. Parliament Buildings, 0 Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1989 - Vol. 5, Issue No. 24 Phone 635-7840 , Fax 635-7269 | error underground a. Witness tells story of mine explosion | _ Following the coroner’s inquiry in Terrace last week into an explosion at Newhawk Gold’s Sulphurets mine | site north of Stewart that occurred in February, a jury has called the death of two miners homicide and asked the RCMP to continue their investigation into the cause of the incident. The jury also recommended that the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources examine procedures for the storing and handling of explosives, and that Newhark be required to _ This isn’t Terrace’s latest resource boom. _ A crew from Peace River Drilling of Prince George actually were drilling for oil in this vacant lot in the 4500 block Lakelse Ave., but they were hoping they wouldn’t find any. ‘The lot is the site of an abandoned ser- vice station formerly operated by Chevron Canada Ltd., who still own the property. They’ ve confirmed that a sale to an unidentified local party is in the works, ‘ and that’s why they-hired the drillers, — . _: Waste Mariagement Branch regulations -. réquire that lots occupied by gas stations have to undergo environmental assessment before they can be sold for certain types of applications. Fred Moore of Chevron’s ‘property management division said, “We . dant?’. _ ongoing program for abandoned Chevron sites, ‘Moore did say, ‘*We're talking with ‘some local folks’* about sale of the fot. want to satisfy ourselves and the Waste Management Branch, so we’ll wait for the results and take action if necessary.” Moore said the station was shut down more than 10 years ago after the Dudley G. Little Bridge opened, redirecting traffic flow and making the gas outlet ‘‘redun- ~ Although he indicated that the environ- mental assessment is part of a general The Peace River Drilling crew said the soil samples they punched through the asphalt to get will be setit toa laboratory in Edmonton for analysis. _institute a mine safety program at the mine site. by Tod Strachan - The inquiry was presided aver by. : torthern. regional, coroner — ~ John: Wolsey: of Prince George: .’ | The. explosion occurred short- ly after 1 p.m. on Feb. 2 when a powder magazine containing about 1,000 pounds of dynamite exploded, Killed were Newhawk underground supervisor Claude Weber of Richmond and a Canadian Mines Development supervisor, Otto Sawatsky of Winnipeg. Three other miners were injured and transferred to Stewart by helicopter. It was reported that the 72-kilometer flight to Stewart -was a dangerous operation in itself — winds were gusting between 30 and 60 miles per hour at the time. Two of the injured were treated and released in Stewart, but 20-year-old Mike Anderson of Terrace, a chip sampler at the Sulphurets, suffered fractures of his right leg, ankle and cheek bone and was transferred to Mills Memorial Hospital a few hours later. He was released a week afterward but is still ‘| unable to return to work. Earlier this week, Anderson described the explosion and life at the Newhawk mine site to the Terrace Review. Transportation into the site was at one time by helicopter, but now workers are flown in to the nearby Brucejack Camp by DC-3 propeller air- craft, From there, it’s a 14-mile drive to the mine site — the Knipple Camp. Workers live in Atco trailers and work seven days a week, on four-week rota- tions. This is followed by two weeks out, There are two shifts per day, and in their ‘‘off-time” workers read, talk or watch MIKE ANDERSON: work underground again. Never questionable quality satellite TV — there are no recreation facilities. ‘‘They’ve promised that for months,’’ says Ander- . son. Everything seemed normal on the morning of Feb. 2; Ander- son said, and at noon workers left the mine for a lunch break. At about 1:15 they returned to work. Anderson says he was among the first to return to the mine on the uppermost of four levels of tunnels and smelled an unusual odor, A short time later, Weber entered the mine with chip sampler Mike Cassidy — a resident of Vancouver. He told Cassidy that the odor was a fuse burning but seemed un- concerned. Weber met Sawatsky near a turn in the tunnel, and leaving Anderson and Cassidy to collect samples, the pair continued walking and rounded the bend in the tunnel. Weber was apparent- ly on his way to check on a rock driller about 800 feet away at the continued on page 25 Shopping center project set back a year _ page 2 os ee