The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
Production at Vale’s Copper Cliff North Mine has been halted, and all but a skeleton crew of workers sent home as Vale personnel and United Steelworkers Local 6500 officials try to figure out why a skip hoist mechanism malfunctioned Sunday.
No one was injured when the conveyance used to bring ore from underground to surface travelled beyond ground, not stopping until it reached the concrete floor at the top of the head frame of the mine shaft.
Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson said the cause of the malfunction isn’t known and the extent of damage is still being assessed. The area has been secured and production halted until repairs can be done, to ensure employee safety, she said.
In a statement, Robson said she didn’t know how long Copper Cliff Mine would be closed. USW Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand said Tuesday he has never seen anything like it in more than 20 years in mining. “Right now, everyone’s working together to see what caused it to happen,” Bertrand said.
No one was injured in the incident. Employees were above ground when the skip malfunctioned, said Robson. Bertrand said the skip, which could be filled with as much as 10 tons of ore, would weigh about 25 tons if full.
Bertrand said it appears the rope reversed on the drum of the skip, getting tangled like a bird’s nest. He compared it to a fishing line getting caught and tangled, and moving in reverse into the reel.
A USW safety team is working with management to figure out the safest way to get that “nest” of about 1,700 feet of rope cleared, said Bertrand.
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