The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
A memorial mass will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at Christ the King Church for Stephen Perry, who was killed Sunday afternoon on the job at Coleman Mine in Levack.
Perry was from Corner Brook, Nfld., but had worked with Inco and Vale for 16 years. Vale vice-president Kelly Strong called Perry a skilled and experienced miner who was respected by his colleagues. Family in Newfoundland said he was a kind and giving man, who would do anything to help someone in need.
Perry is survived by a daughter and several siblings.
Vale suspended operations at all five Sudbury mines after Perry was killed working on a piece of machinery to load blasting equipment to open up the 4,215-foot heading off the Coleman shaft in the main ore body.
The Ontario Ministry of Labour and Greater Sudbury Police Service have been at the site beginning their investigations. Vale and the union representing Perry, United Steelworkers Local 6500, will also conduct investigations.
Whether those latter investigations will be done jointly or individually isn’t known yet. Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand said Monday it was too soon to decide.
Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson said Tuesday the company and the union had discussions and “(we) remain hopeful we can conduct a joint investigation with them.”
The temporary suspension of operations at Vale mines is continuing and Robson couldn’t speculate when operations would resume. “Our focus continues to be on safety, and not production,” she said in an email.
The critical incident stress management team is available to help workers trying to cope with the death of a colleague while still recovering from the deaths of two men June 8 of last year at Stobie Mine.
Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, died after 350 tons of muck overcame them while they were working at the 3,000-foot level of that mine.
Vale released its findings into that investigation last week and USW’s Bertrand said his union was wrapping its investigation up and would soon issue its report.
The Ministry of Labour is investigating the Stobie deaths and has up to a year to do that.
Strong, Vale’s head of Ontario operations, said Monday that production was being suspended while management looked into the most recent death.
Richard Paquin is president of Mine Mill Local 598/CAW, representing production and maintenance workers at Xstrata Nickel in Sudbury.
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