Grateful for a positive outcome

Published 12:30 pm Thursday, July 31, 2025

Mining is an inherently risky business.

Centuries of human experience, modern technology, and perhaps most importantly, strict safety regulations have made it much less so in Canada, but it will never be 100 per cent risk-free.

When people work with heavy equipment and/or in environments such as underground mines, incidents are likely to occur. Fortunately, they are few and far between in this country.

Nevertheless, last week, three workers from Smithers-based Hy-Tech Drilling were trapped underground when two "fall of ground incidents" occurred at Red Chris mine in northwest B.C.

Fall of ground incidents are what we used to refer to as cave-ins. The industry has gravitated away from the term because it has connotations of major collapses of large-scale underground structures, whereas "ground fall" covers a broader range of incidents, from slides to minor collapses, such as the two last week.

Of course, when this particular incident occurred, the inevitable questions arose. What caused it? Could it have been prevented? Were these workers unnecessarily put at risk?

We don't know those answers yet, but Newmont, the global company that operates Red Chris, has promised a comprehensive investigation and to share lessons learned transparently across the industry.

For the time being, the important thing is that these three guys were rescued in pretty short order. 

That is not to downplay the emotional/psychological impact it must have had on them and their families. Every minute of the 60 hours they spent underground must have been excruciating.

In the end, though, it proved that the safety protocols at Red Chris work, and, as Premier David Eby suggested, the province's mine rescue teams are exceptional.

Welcome home, Kevin, Darien, and Jesse. We are all grateful this situation had pretty much as positive an outcome as could be expected.