Worker injured in Minto Mine explosion released from hospital
A worker injured in an explosion at Capstone Mining's Minto Mine on Friday has now been released from hospital, a mine official says.
Mine manager Ron Light says the worker — an employee of Pelly Construction, the mine's main contractor — was hurt while operating a hydraulic shovel. The shovel bucket hit an undetonated explosive device, shattering the glass of the excavator's cabin window with flying rock.
Light says the shovel operator was hurt by the shattered glass and was flown to hospital in Vancouver.
"It's a very rare occurrence," Light said of the explosion. "We have a good safety record at the site."
Light could not explain why the undetonated device was left there from an earlier shift, when blasting had been done.
"That's one of the reasons that you do an inspection post-blast — to see if you notice any undetonated holes. In this case, there was no abnormalities noted after the blast was initiated, and work continued. And several shifts later they hit that cap," he said.
"We're certainly going to look at anything we can to do to improve our procedures."
Yukon health and safety officials were at the Minto site after the explosion on Friday. Light says the inspection into the accident is not yet complete.
Operations at the mine were temporarily suspended over the weekend, but Light says work had fully resumed by Monday night.
