Ontario Mine Rescue is the program that creates, oversees and evaluates mine rescue training and standards in the province of Ontario. [1] The Ontario Mine Rescue program is administered by Workplace Safety North, part of the prevention arm of the Ontario Ministry of Labour. [2]
Ontario Mine Rescue was born out of the tragedy of the Hollinger Mine fire that claimed the lives of 39 miners in Timmins in 1928. Neither the mine, the town or even the province had the expertise or the resources to respond to save their lives or adequately fight the fire. Mine rescue teams from Pittsburgh had to be called in to extinguish the fire, while recovery operations were left to local mine management. The resulting provincial royal commission recommended the creation of an Ontario Mine Rescue organization under the Department of Mines to respond to underground mine fires. [3]
The 1947 East Malartic Fire marked a major turning point for Ontario Mine Rescue as teams from Timmins, Kirkland Lake and Sudbury responded to a call to help fight a mine fire in Malartic, Quebec. It was the first and only time Ontario Mine Rescue teams responded to an out-of-province emergency. While working together, it became evident each district had different training and maintenance standards. As a result, the position of Senior Mine Rescue Officer was created to ensure province-wide standards in mine rescue training and equipment maintenance were established and maintained. [4]
In 1965, another mine fire in Timmins, this one at the McIntyre Mine, forced the organization to make another change. The underground distance rescue teams had to travel to reach the fire was so great that the two-hour McCaa apparatus was not sufficient to allow them time to fight the fire. In 1966, after investigating and testing different apparatus, the BG174 was purchased to allow for a four-hour capability. The BG174 proved a workhorse for almost 40 years before it was replaced by the BG4. [4]
Ontario Mine Rescue took on added responsibility in 1984 after four miners were trapped and killed in a rockburst at Falconbridge No. 5 Shaft near Sudbury. The Stevenson Commission recommended that the organization's mandate be expanded to conduct training in and respond to non-fire emergencies. Training on non-fire rescue equipment began shortly after. [4]
In January 2001, responsibility for Ontario Mine Rescue was transferred to the Mines and Aggregates Safety and Health Association, now a part of Workplace Safety North (WSN). The program changed from usage of the Draeger BG174 to the Drager BG4 self-contained breathing apparatus. Standardized competency based training programs were developed to ensure consistent delivery of information to mine rescue teams across the province.
When mining activity ceases in thea jurisdiction, some stations that had been established for emergency response capability were closed or relocated.
| Year | Annual Competition | Provincial Champions | District | Runner Up | Location | Arena / Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 57th | Goldcorp - Porcupine Joint Venture (PJV) | Timmins District | Inco Ltd. - Sudbury West Mines | Timmins | Archie Dillon Sportsplex Arena |
| 2007 | 58th | CVRD Inco - Sudbury East Mines | Sudbury District | Xstrata - Kidd Operations | Sault Ste. Marie | N / A |
| 2008 | 59th | Xstrata Nickel - Fraser / TL Mines | Onaping District | Vale Inco - East Mines | Sudbury | Fecunis Mine |
| 2009 | 60th | Vale Inco - Sudbury East Mines | Sudbury District | FNX Mining | Windsor | Windsor Expo Centre [5] |
| 2010 | 61st | Goldcorp - Porcupine Gold Mines (PGM) | Timmins District | Barrick Hemlo - Williams Mine | Timmins | Timmins Underground Gold Mine Tour [6] |
| 2011 | 62nd | Vale - Sudbury West Mines | Sudbury District | Barrick Hemlo - Williams Mine | Marathon | Barrick Gold - Williams Mine |
| 2012 | 63rd | Barrick Hemlo - Williams Mine | Thunder Bay & Algoma District | Kirkland Lake Gold - Macassa Mine | Sudbury | Vale - Copper Cliff South Mine |
| 2013 | 64th | Glencore - Kidd Operations [7] | Timmins District | Glencore - Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations | Windsor | South Windsor Recreation Complex |
| 2014 | 65th | Vale - Sudbury East Mines [8] | Sudbury District | Compass Minerals - Goderich Mine | Timmins | Goldcorp PGM - Dome Mine |
| 2015 | 66th | Vale - Sudbury West Mines | Sudbury District | AuRico Gold - Young-Davidson Mine | Thunder Bay | Fort Williams Gardens Arena [9] [10] |
| 2016 | 67th | Compass Minerals - Goderich Mine | Southern District | Lake Shore Gold - Timmins West & Bell Creek Mines | Sudbury | Fecunis Mine |
| 2017 | 68th | Goldcorp Musselwhite Mine [11] | Red Lake District | Tahoe Canada - Timmins West & Bell Creek Mines | Goderich | Compass Minerals Goderich Mine |
| 2018 | 69th | Tahoe Canada - Timmins West & Bell Creek Mines [12] | Timmins District | Vale - Sudbury East Mines | Matachewan | Alamos Gold Young-Davidson Mine |
| 2019 | 70th | K+S Windsor Salt Ojibway Mine [13] | Southern District | Newmont - Porcupine Gold Mines | Red Lake | Red Lake Gold Mines |
Ontario Mine Rescue hosted the 10th International Mines Rescue Competition (IMRC 2016) in Sudbury, Ontario. [14] [15] The competition is held every two years [16] by the governing mine rescue body of the host nation or jurisdiction. The 2016 event marked the first time the competition was held in Canada.
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 44,819 (2023). The city's economy is based on natural resource extraction. It is supported by industries related to lumbering, and to the mining of gold, zinc, copper, nickel, and silver. Timmins serves as a regional service and distribution centre.
Dräger is a German company based in Lübeck which makes breathing and protection equipment, gas detection and analysis systems, and noninvasive patient monitoring technologies. Customers include hospitals, fire departments and diving companies.
The Hollinger Gold Mine was discovered on October 9, 1909, by Benny Hollinger, who found the gold-bearing quartz dike that later became known as Hollinger Mines. With his friend, professional prospector Alex Gillies, Hollinger had travelled to the Porcupine region in the wake of the Wilson expedition, which had recently discovered the future Dome Mine site. Hollinger and Gillies staked three claims each, and one for their former partner, Bernard "Barney" P. McEnaney, who had been unable to join them due to severe sciatica.
Dome Mine is situated in the City of Timmins, Ontario, Canada; and was developed during the Porcupine Gold Rush. Last operated by Canadian company Goldcorp, before it became a subsidiary of American company Newmont, it is one of three mines owned by Newmont in the Porcupine district in and around Timmins.
Mine rescue or mines rescue is the specialised job of rescuing miners and others who have become trapped or injured in underground mines because of mining accidents, roof falls or floods and disasters such as explosions.
Escape breathing apparatus, also called escape respirators, escape sets, self-rescuer masks, emergency life saving apparatus (ELSA), emergency escape breathing devices (EEBD), and Respiratory Protective Smoke Escape Devices (RPED), are portable breathing apparatus that provide the wearer with respiratory protection for a limited period, intended for escape from or through an environment where there is no breathable ambient atmosphere. This includes escape through water and in areas containing harmful gases or fumes or other atmospheres immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH).
Gogama is a Northeastern Ontario community that is situated on Lake Minisinakwa, 580 kilometres north of Toronto, 191 km north of Sudbury, and 114 km south of Timmins. In the Canada 2011 Census, a population of 277 people was recorded. The community is counted as part of Sudbury, Unorganized, North Part in Canadian census data. It is not an incorporated municipality, but is administered by a local services board.
Noah Anthony Timmins was a Canadian mining financier and developer who is now counted among the founding fathers of Canada's mining industry.
The SEFA is a make of backpack industrial breathing set formerly made by Sabre Safety. It is an oxygen rebreather. "SEFA" is an acronym for "selected elevated flow apparatus".
The Porcupine Gold Rush was a gold rush that took place in Northern Ontario starting in 1909 and developing fully by 1911. A combination of the hard rock of the Canadian Shield and the rapid capitalization of mining meant that smaller companies and single-man operations could not effectively mine the area, as opposed to earlier rushes where the gold could be extracted through placer mining techniques. Although a number of prospectors made their fortune, operations in the area are marked largely by the development of larger mining companies, and most people involved in the mining operations were their employees.
A mine rescue chamber is an emergency shelter installed in hazardous environments, typically underground. It is also known as refuge chamber, refuge bay, or refuge alternative. Refuge chambers come in multiple types and models, and are used in multiple industries including metalliferous mining, coal, tunnelling and petrochemical facilities.
The Canadian Malartic Corporation is a mining company that operates the Malartic mine near Malartic, Quebec. Prior to 2014 the company was a public company named Osisko Mining Corporation with shares listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. In 2014, Osisko Mining was subject to a hostile takeover bid by Goldcorp but an alternative bid by white knights Yamana Gold and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited was accepted that, in addition to offering a higher price, created the spin-off Osisko Gold Royalties and turned Osisko Mining Corporation into the subsidiary company Canadian Malartic Corporation jointly owned by Yamana Gold and Agnico Eagle. From its founding in 1982 until 2006, Osisko Mining bought and sold mineral exploration rights in Quebec, conducting exploration work. The company acquired an interest in the Canadian Malartic property in 2004 and after promising feasibility studies the mine was constructed with commercial production achieved in May 2011.
The Abitibi gold belt is a region of Canada that extends from Wawa, Ontario to Val-d'Or, Quebec. Located within the mineral-rich Abitibi greenstone belt, the gold belt is an established gold mining district having produced over 100 mines, and 170 million ounces of gold since 1901. Timmins, a town founded in 1912 following the Porcupine Gold Rush and subsequent creation of the Hollinger Mines, McIntyre Mines and Dome Mine, which was one area in the region that experienced a gold rush, beginning in 1909. The Kerr Addison Mine in Virginiatown was at one time Canada's largest gold producing mine. Many of the towns readily acknowledge gold mining as part of their history, some being named after gold. One of Canada's 'large roadside attractions' is a 12-foot replica of a 1908 gold sovereign built to commemorate Canada's first gold coin which was made using gold from the Kerr Addison owned Kerr-Addison mine.
The Hole Story is a 2011 documentary film and web documentary directed by Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie about mining in Canada and its impact on the environment and workers' health. The film focuses primarily on the mining communities of the Northeastern Ontario and Abitibi-Témiscamingue regions, including Sudbury, Timmins, Cobalt, Rouyn-Noranda, Val-d'Or and Malartic.
NORCAT is a not for profit technology and innovation centre headquartered in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. NORCAT provides health and safety training for the mining industry, occupational health and safety services, and product development assistance to small, medium and large industrial enterprises.
The Timmins Underground Gold Mine Tour was a tourist attraction owned and operated by the City of Timmins from 1990 to 2013.
The 2013 Ontario Mine Rescue Provincial Competition was held June 5–7 at the South Windsor Recreation Complex, in Windsor, Ontario.
The 2015 Ontario Mine Rescue Provincial Competition were held June 10–12 at the Fort Williams Gardens Arena, in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The International Mines Rescue Competition (IMRC) is a biennial event which facilitates the testing of underground emergency response capability across global mining and Mine Rescue jurisdictions. The competition is held by the governing mine rescue body of the host nation or jurisdiction.
The 2017 Ontario Mine Rescue Provincial Competition was held June 6-9 at Compass Minerals Goderich Mine, in Goderich, Ontario.