Potash miners take refuge from smoke

Saskatoon-Forty-seven miners were sealed off in safe rooms for five hours early on July 20 in Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.’s Cory mine near here when smoke from a piece of contractor equipment triggered a security alarm. “They were down there playing cards for quite awhile,” PotashCorp spokeswoman Rhonda Speiss told Green Markets. She said there was never a fire and the alarm was sounded as a precautionary procedure after the contractor notified security. A crew was immediately dispatched underground to investigate. Speiss reported that the incident produced a large volume of black smoke when the oil seal on a bobcat turbocharger failed, and security signaled everyone underground to take refuge in a safe room until the security crew gave the “all clear.” Press reports said the miners were sealed off in four separate underground safe rooms, which contain enough food and water to last for days. The company will conduct a formal investigation along with its occupational health and safety committee to determine what happened and how such occurrences can be prevented in the future. The Cory mine employs about 240.