Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd., based in Toronto, has been fined $100,000 for an incident two years ago at a mine in Wawa that injured one of its workers. It took place Sept. 22, 2024, involving a worker who was underground at the Wesdome Eagle River Gold Mine. The worker was injured when loose rock fell from the hanging wall of the underground mine. While the worker was developing an open raise, “a vertical or inclined opening excavated upward from the lower level to the upper level of the mine,” the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development said in a news release earlier this month. “While scaling the wall from a work platform in the raise, a loose rock fell from the hanging wall and injured the worker.” An investigation found that the raise had inadequate ground support, with five straps, 14 rock bolts and 18 pieces of rebar missing from the brow of the stope to the second set of staging in the raise. Difficult to install rock bolts “The raise was excavated too narrow, which made it difficult to install the rock bolts needed to keep the ground conditions in the raise safe,” the release said. “As a result, the company failed to ensure the ground conditions in the open raise were adequately supported and safe for the work being performed.” The employer failed to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the $100,000 fine was imposed Aug. 21 of this year. The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.
