By Dan Oancea

This is November news but they still reverberate throughout the copper rich nation of Zambia:

“Chinese-run copper mines in Zambia are breaking the law with poor health and safety conditions, hostility to trade unions and regular labour shifts of 12 and even 18 hours, a rights watchdog claimed on Thursday.

Workers describe abusive employment conditions that violate national and international standards and compare unfavourably with other multinational copper miners in Zambia, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).”

A boom operator at NFCA's underground copper mine is quoted as saying: "We are working in very bad conditions, horrible conditions. After a blast, it takes an hour for the dust, gases and fumes to move out of the area. We're supposed to wait to go in. But with the Chinese, they say, 'Go, go, rush right away!' And if you don't, they'll terminate your contract. So we go straight into an area full of fumes and dust ... The doctor said that these gases have caused my ulcers and chest pain."

"Many of the poor health and safety practices we found in Zambia's Chinese-run mines look strikingly similar to abuses we see in China. Respecting labour laws and ensuring workers' safety should be standard operating practice both in China and abroad, not treated as an irritating barrier to greater profits."

This last paragraph is important because it looks like Chinese mining operations do not have ingrained a culture of safety and the rush after profits is taking a great toll on workers.

It looks legitimate to me that when Chinese companies take over mining projects in British Columbia, Canada we would have people and organizations worried about their potential impact on workers’ safety:

"Chinese-owned coal mines have the worst safety record in the industry. Anyone who takes even a brief look at China record of mine explosions, cave-ins, floods and other disasters is alarmed to learn that we're now inviting Chinese-owned companies to run mines in this province."

Turning south we learn that “90 people have died since 2006 in mine accidents in the northern state of Coahuila”, Mexico. Coal mining and fatalities are attributed to poor safety conditions. The Mexican government should definitely step up inspections and force private or public mining companies to obey the law or face stiff penalties and/or closure of their mining operations. They should be able to win at least this war as the other one on drugs is still in limbo 6 years after it started.

Typical deep underground mining problems resurfaced in news this week because of a rock bursting incident at the Lucky Friday silver mine in Idaho, USA. The Lucky Friday silver deposit has been mined since 1891. The mine itself is 60 years old and nowadays mining is done one mile deep into the ground. Rock bursting is a naturally occurring phenomenon that relates to the release of energy stored in the rock and is typical of deep underground mining operations. South African mines have had to deal with this problem for a while and I think that their Universities and mining specialists should be consulted by Hecla or anybody else that plans to conduct business that deep in the underground.

Anyway the mine experienced two fatalities this year and it had been said that:

"The accident occurred because management did not have policies and procedures that provided for the safe mining of split stopes in a multi-vein deposit," said MSHA.

"Management failed to design, install, and maintain a support system to control the ground in places where miners worked and traveled."

"Additional, management failed to ensure that appropriate supervisors or other designated persons examined or tested the ground conditions where the fall occurred," the agency observed.

Put people before profits.

Stay safe.