Workplace Injury Results in $100,000 Fine for Mining Company

Convicted: Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd., 220 Bay Street, Suite 1200, Toronto, Ontario, a company that produces gold

Location of Workplace: Eagle River Gold Mine, Wawa, Ontario

Description of Offence: A worker was injured when loose rock fell from the hanging wall of an underground mine. The employer failed to ensure the measures and procedures prescribed by subsection 66(1) of the Mines and Mining Plants of Ontario Regulation 854 were carried out, at a workplace, contrary to 25(1)(c) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Date of Offence: September 22, 2024

Date of Conviction: August 21, 2026

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Provincial Offences Court in Thunder Bay, Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. was fined $100,000 by Justice of the Peace Tobey Meyer; Crown Counsel was Tianna Gomes.
• 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.

Background:

• On September 22, 2024, a worker was working underground at the Wesdome Eagle River Gold Mine developing an open raise, a vertical or inclined opening excavated upward from the lower level to the upper level of the mine.
• While scaling the wall from a work platform in the raise, a loose rock fell from the hanging wall and injured the worker.
• A Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development investigation found that:
  • The raise had inadequate ground support. Approximately five straps, 14 rock bolts, and 18 pieces of rebar were missing from the brow of the stope to the second set of staging in the raise.
  • 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.
• 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.