For Immediate Release
SUDBURY, September 17, 2013 – This afternoon, Vale and Crown prosecutors representing the Ministry of Labour agreed to a resolution of charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection to the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram at Stobie Mine in 2011. As part of this resolution, Vale entered a guilty plea on three counts, and agreed to a fine of $1,050,000 plus a 25% surcharge.
Kelly Strong, Vale’s Vice President of Ontario/UK Operations, released the following statement on behalf of Vale with respect to this matter:
“The deaths of Jason and Jordan have been extremely difficult for everyone involved, but no one more so than the families. Although the court proceedings have now been concluded, as a Company we cannot and will not ever forget what happened. We have a responsibility to the families, our employees, our Company and our community – all of whom have been deeply affected – to ensure we do everything we can to prevent this or any other tragedy from occurring in our operations again.
There is no higher priority than the safety of our people. We have concentrated significant efforts and resources on understanding what happened at Stobie Mine on June 8, 2011, and we have come very far in terms of implementing the recommendations that were made following this incident. This work will continue through our day to day work, and through the coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Jordan and Jason that will take place according to provincial law. It is our intention to learn everything we can through that process when it occurs.
We continue to put in place measures to make our plants and mines as safe as possible. Nothing we can say or do can ever turn back the clock and bring Jason and Jordan back, but we will continue to honour their memories through our unwavering focus on safety and reaching zero harm in our workplace.”
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Contact:
Angie Robson
Manager, Corporate Affairs
Vale, Ontario Operations
(705) 682-5202
angie.robson@vale.com
Cory McPhee
Vice President, Corporate Affairs
Vale, Base Metals
416-361-7669
cory.mcphee@vale.com