Mine explosion injures four
News
Posted By Joni MacFarlane, Editor
Posted 2 months ago
An explosion at Teck's Greenhills Mine in Elkford blew the wall off a coal dryer sending four employees to hospital.
The explosion occurred in an industrial area about eight kilometers from Elkford mid-afternoon on Tuesday, June 29. Damage to the dryer building included a protective layer of cladding on the six-storey unit blown right off the walls. The damage did not extend to any other parts of the mine and it has since been determined that the building suffered minimal structural damage.
Four employees were treated for minor smoke inhalation.
A small brush fire started after the explosion but was extinguished after provincial and Elkford fire fighters as well as Greenhills and Fording River fire crews used a water bomber and helicopter to get the fire under control.
On July 2, structural engineers and representatives of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources conducted a preliminary assessment but the cause of the accident hasn't yet been determined.
The dryer uses coal-fired heat to dry coal after it comes out of an adjacent wash facility, in preparation for shipment.
Raw coal from the Greenhills Mine is being hauled to the nearby Fording River mine for processing in their facilities, while the company seeks other ways to reduce the impact on production while repairs are made at Greenhills.
Greenhills is located in the Elk River coalfield and is owned 80 per cent by Teck and 20 per cent by Pohang Steel Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of Pohang Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. of South Korea.
Greenhills employs 550 people and produces 4.3 million tones a year or about 10 per cent of the market.
The company's stock plummeted about six per cent after the explosion down $2.47 to $31.21 on the TSX. As at press time Teck stock had risen to $32.43.
