The three workers trapped in a northern British Columbia mine have been identified by their employer and safety officials say they have access to natural air.In a statement, Hy-Tech Drilling said the three drillers trapped in the Red Criss mine are Kevin Coumbs of Ontario, Darien Maduke of B.C., and Jesse Chubaty of Manitoba.The drilling company, based in Smithers, B.C., said late Thursday that it had permission from the families to share the names and asked that their privacy be respected.It also said in a statement that it is working closely with mine operator Newmont Corp. to support efforts to rescue them.Natural air is flowing to the workers, according to Bernard Wessels, global safety head for Newmont, and a safe path has been mapped to the refuge chamber where they are located. Wessels would not say how long he expects the rescue to take, but “from a timing perspective” the company is confident, adding that the company “will not rest” until the workers are brought home safely.The three have been trapped underground at the mine since Tuesday morning, when two rockfalls cut them off.Wessels said the contractors for Hy-Tech Drilling confirmed by radio that they had made their way to a steel refuge chamber after the first fall, before a second collapse severed communications.A remote-controlled scoop has begun the work of removing a pile of debris 20 to 30 metres long and seven to eight metres high to gain access to the trapped workers. Newmont Corp. also said Thursday that specialized drones have been sent in to assess the geotechnical conditions underground. “The area of the refuge chambers is not in the same area as the fall of ground and is understood to be stable and well-ventilated,” the company said of the location where the three workers are holding out. Teams are restoring a specialized communication system to try to re-establish communication with the workers, the statement said. WATCH | Rescuers working to reach trapped mine workers: Rescue operation underway for 3 miners trapped undergroundA rescue operation is underway to retrieve three miners trapped underground in northwest B.C. The miners work at the Red Chris mine on Tahltan Nation territory near Dease Lake, B.C., about 420 kilometres west of Fort Nelson. The CBC’s Meera Bains has more on the efforts to bring the workers at the open-pit copper and gold mine to safety.The mining site is located on Tahltan Nation territory near Dease Lake, B.C., about 420 kilometres west of Fort Nelson, B.C.Hy-Tech said the workers are diamond drillers, meaning they cut through rock using drill bits embedded with industrial diamonds. Refuge chamber equipped for 16 peopleNewmont said the three are in a refuge chamber with enough air, food and water for an extended stay.”The workers are understood to be sheltering in a MineARC refuge chamber designed to support 16 people. Additional refuge chambers are also available nearby and accessible if required,” Newmont said Thursday.Production at the gold and copper mine has been paused while the rescue effort continues. The mine is mostly open pit, but Newmont said in an earlier statement that development of underground block-cave mining began in 2019, four years after the mine’s first production date.The drillers were working more than 500 metres past the affected zone when the first rocks fell, and were asked to relocate to the refuge before the second fall.”Following the first event, contact was established with the individuals and confirmation was received that they had safely relocated to one of multiple self-contained refuge bays,” the company said. In a statement, B.C.’s Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals said it was notified mid-afternoon Tuesday about the two fall-of-ground events, which occurred in the morning.The ministry said Newmont reported that they had an “orderly” stand-down of operations following the incident.”Questions around how that was accomplished, and timing, are best answered by the company,” the statement said. Workers around 600 metres inside tunnel: sourceA source with direct knowledge of the mine and the rescue operation said the first fall of ground happened 200 metres into a lateral tunnel underground.The source said the mine workers were 400 metres beyond that, meaning they were around 600 metres inside the tunnel.An aerial shot of the Red Chris mine site. Newmont says the refuge chamber where the workers are believed to be has food and water. (SkeenaWild)According to the source, there has been no contact with the mine workers since the second fall of ground, but it did not impact the area where the three workers sought refuge.The source said there were multiple self-contained refuge bays in the area, with each having enough supplies to sustain 16 people for three days.WATCH | ‘World-leading’ teams working to rescue mine workers, Eby says: B.C. premier says 3 miners trapped underground, company working with rescue teamsB.C. Premier David Eby said on Wednesday that there was an accident at the Red Chris mine in northwest B.C., where three miners are trapped underground. Eby added that, to the best of his knowledge, they are not injured. (NOTE: The premier initially said the incident occurred overnight, in fact the incident happened earlier Tuesday.)Block cavingNolan Paquette, a local vice-president with the United Steelworkers Local 1-1937 — which represents about 450 Red Chris workers — said the three workers are boring a hole to start up “block-cave operations” at the mine within the next three years.The open-pit mine, which is above ground, is transitioning to underground mining using “block caving,” a technique that involves digging underground to target the ore from below, according to a Newmont communications video on the company’s website.Dwayne Tannant, a geotechnical engineering professor with the University of British Columbia, said the rescue could take time as it can’t be rushed.”You don’t want to be sending people over … scrambling over the material because more stuff could come down,” he said. WATCH | Professor says rescue ‘could take days’: Careful, systematic approach to rescue 3 Red Chris miners underway in Stikine regionUBC professor of geotechnical engineering Dwayne Tannant shares insights on the conditions faced by the three trapped miners inside the Red Chris mine refuge station.”It’s safety first, that’s the highest priority, safety of the people re-establishing the tunnel. So they’ll be very systematic about bringing the right equipment, bringing the right personnel with experience to stabilize the tunnel, probably putting in rock support.”And I suspect they’re going to have to then pull out the debris, and they’ll do that in a series of stages and advance through the area where the tunnel has collapsed.”That could take days,” Tannant said.The Red Chris mine is one of the projects that B.C. announced it would be fast-tracking in response to the U.S. tariff threat.Newmont CEO Tom Palmer said during the company’s second quarter earnings call on Thursday that it plans to investigate what took place. “We are concentrating the full force of our organization on the safe recovery of our team members at Red Chris and we will conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the factors that led to this event,” Palmer said, adding that any findings will be used across the company and shared with the broader mining industry. The mining ministry said its priority is supporting Newmont’s rescue operations and it will conduct its own investigation once the rescue has been concluded.
Manitoban among 3 mine workers trapped behind 30 metres of debris in B.C.
