Operations were suspended late last week, and nearly 200 miners were trapped underground for hours, after a fire erupted on a scooptram at Hudbay Minerals’ Lalor operation in Snow Lake, Manitoba, on September 14.
According to local news outlet the Thompson Citizen, the equipment actually caught fire twice, once as well on Sept. 15. Both times, workers rushed to refuge stations and waited to be evacuated.
All 177 working underground at the gold-zinc-copper operation were returned to the surface by about 1 a.m. Sept. 15 after about 12 hours in the chambers for the first incidents. A second evacuation was conducted following the second fire, which reportedly involved fewer people, and operations were suspended.
Hudbay, which has not released an official statement on the incident, told the outlet the fire originated in the rear tire of the scooptram. It said resumption of operations was expected on Sept. 16.
Both Hudbay and the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health agency are investigating the cause of the incidents. No injuries were reported.
Source: Thompson Citizen