A team from Newmont’s Musselwhite Mine is the overall winner of the 2022 Ontario Mine Rescue provincial competition.
Six teams from across the province — Barrick Hemlo Williams Mine (Algoma District), Alamos Gold Young-Davidson Mine (Kirkland Lake District), Compass Minerals Goderich Mine (Southern District) (Onaping District did not qualify) — came together June 7-9 for the annual skills contest, which was hosted at Vale’s Creighton Mine just outside of Sudbury.
It was the first such event since 2019 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual competition draws winning teams from each of the eight districts across Ontario to test their skills and aptitude in a series of mock scenarios that mimic emergencies at a mine site.
Teams are put through their paces while being evaluated in areas such as firefighting skills, first aid response, use of emergency equipment, and decision-making ability under stress.
Members of the winning team included: Jack Lawson (captain), Taylor Poling (2 man), Alexa Dumaine (3 man), Scott Lawson (4 man), Philip Mullin (5 man/vice), Jimmy Sinclair (6 man), Ryan Lepage (briefing officer), Nick Gosselin (7 man), Chris Horde and Gabe Roy (coaches), and Kurtis Atkinson and Jeff Farquharson (miner rescue officers).
Musselwhite gold mine, operated by Newmont Canada, is a fly-in, fly-out operation located approximately 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
Other winners included:
Team Competition:
- Second Overall: Impala Canada Lac des Isles Mine, Thunder Bay District
- Team Firefighting Award: Newmont Musselwhite Mine, Red Lake District
- Team First Aid Award: Lakeshore Gold Timmins West & Bell Creek Mines, Timmins District
- Team Special Equipment Award: Newmont Musselwhite Mine, Red Lake District
- Team Theory Exam Award: Lakeshore Gold Timmins West & Bell Creek Mines, Timmins District
Individual Technician Competition:
- First: Garry Bennett, Alamos Gold, Young-Davidson Mine, Kirkland Lake District
- Second: Jean Yves Doiron, Vale Sudbury Operations, Sudbury District
- Third: Darren Bullied, Evolution Mining Red Lake Gold Mines, Red Lake District
Ontario Mine Rescue has been in operation since 1929, following a tragedy at the Hollinger Mine in Timmins in which 39 miners died in an underground fire.
Headquartered in Sudbury, Ontario Mine Rescue today staffs, equips and maintains a network of mine rescue stations across the province that ensure mines within a specified geographic area have adequate emergency response capability.
