- Sullivan Mine
Sullivan Mine is an underground mine located in
Kimberley, British Columbia ,Canada ; it has a complex,diatreme hosted orebody, made up primarily ofzinc sulfide ,lead sulfide , andiron sulfide s.The deposit was discovered in 1892 and acquired in 1909 by the CPR-owned Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (later Cominco Ltd. and
Teck Cominco ). The mine's economic success resulted largely from Sullivan's 1916 development of thedifferential flotation process that allowed separate recovery oflead andzinc concentrates in the milling process. This technology, developed byTrail operations at Sullivan, has been used worldwide for various types of ore bodies. In its lifetime, the mine producedore containing over 17 million tons ofzinc andlead and more than 285 million ounces ofsilver , which were together worth more than $20 billion. After 92 years of active production, the Sullivan Mine was closed in 2001. Currently, Teck Cominco is undergoing an extensivedecommissioning andreclamation process at the site.Mine accident
On May 17, 2006, it was announced that four people died in an accident at the decommissioned mine. Douglas Erickson, a contractor who was doing routine water sampling, was overcome by lack of oxygen. Two days later, after being reported missing, he was found by Teck Cominco employee Robert Newcombe, who was able to dial
9-1-1 before also succumbing to the oxygen depleted atmosphere. The two paramedics that responded, Kim Weitzel and Shawn Currier, also died in theoxygen -deprived atmosphere of the shed. The bodies were recovered byfirefighter s equipped with oxygen masks. It was not any kind of poisoning which the victims succumbed to, but suffocation in an environment completely devoid of oxygen, in anarchetypical confined space accident. [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/18/mine-tragedy.html]References
* [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/17/mine-injuries.html "B.C. mine incident claims 4 lives"] , "CBC News", May 17, 2006, retrieved May 18, 2006
* [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/18/mine-tragedy.html "Police identify 4 people killed in B.C. mine"] , "CBC News", May 18, 2006, retrieved May 18, 2006
* [http://www.mediaroom.gov.bc.ca/sullivan_mine/sullivan_mine.htm Sullivan Mine Report] , "British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources", Oct 30, 2006, retrieved July 1, 2008
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
