This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.
For the second year in a row, an Ontario Mining Association member company has earned the John T. Ryan National Safety Trophy for metal mines symbolizing the highest standards of mine safety across Canada. Barrick Hemlo’s Williams gold mine, near Marathon, shares the honours with Cameco’s McArthur River uranium mine in Saskatchewan. Both operations had reportable injury rates of zero for the 2013 calendar year.
The previous year, Glencore’s Kidd Operations captured the honours as the safest metal mine in the country. That marked the eleventh time, the Timmins copper-zinc operation gained this national award.
“Safety performance in mining for 2013 was outstanding,” said Gord Winkel, Chairman of the John T. Ryan Safety Trophies Committee. “This year, we are pleased to announce a tie for best performance in the national metal mining category, along with a three-way tie in our national select mine category. These mining operations are joined by another company in the national coal mine category for a total of six award winners in 2013.”
Canadian select mine winners in 2013 included Potash Corp.’s New Brunswick Division, Graymont’s Faulkner property in Manitoba and Graymont’s Bedford property in Quebec. The national coal mine Ryan trophy winner for 2013 was Teck’s Greenhills Mine in British Columbia.
“These award winning mining operations are characterized by outstanding safety leadership with full engagement by their team members to form a strong safety culture with impressive results,” added Mr. Winkel. The year 2013 John T. Ryan Safety Trophies were presented last week, at the 116th annual general meeting of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, which was held in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Ryan Trophy Safety competition began in 1941 when the Mine Safety Appliances Company of Canada — now MSA Canada Inc. — donated a trophy to encourage the safe production of minerals as part of Canada’s wartime effort. Since then, the competition expanded to include a coal trophy in 1942 and a select mine trophy in 1970. These much-treasured trophies are symbols of the premier safety competition in mining.
The Ryan safety recognition program also offers regional awards. Congratulations to OMA member Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations A Glencore Company. The Nickel Rim South Mine earned the 2013 John T. Ryan Ontario regional safety trophy in the metal mine category.
“I commend the team for earning this first-class recognition of safety excellence and encourage everyone across our Sudbury INO to continue in their drive towards advancing our safety performance to the highest levels,” said Marc Boissonneault, Vice President Sudbury INO, in an earlier statement. Barrick Hemlo’s Williams Mine had previously earned this Ontario regional safety trophy in 2012, 2005, 2004 and 1989.
The Chairman of the John T. Ryan National Safety Trophies Committee is Gord Winkel, Industrial Professor in the Engineering Safety and Risk Management Program in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta. MSA, which is celebrating its centennial as a corporation in 2014, is the sponsor of the Ryan Trophies competition.