Published: September 30, 2016 |

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Newmont Mining Corp.’s Genesis Mine earned a Sentinels of Safety award Tuesday during the 2016 MINExpo International in Las Vegas.

The award is sponsored by the National Mining Association and presented annually to the mines with the best safety records in the country. Sentinels of Safety winners are the mines that have worked the most employee-hours without experiencing a lost-time injury. The idea for the award was presented in 1925 by then-Secretary of Commerce and future president Herbert Hoover, who was a mining engineer.

“Much has changed since then, but I am still confident that Hoover would be in awe of the great strides in taking care of the most important part of our business and that’s our people,” said National Mining Association Press President and CEO Hal Quinn.

Sentinels of Safety winners are presented trophies each year for 10 categories — underground coal, surface coal, coal processing facility, underground metal, underground nonmetal, open pit, quarry, dredge, bank or pit, and metal/nonmetal mill.

Genesis won in the open pit category for 506,025 injury-free hours. This means the 550 people at the mine have worked an entire year without an injury, said General Manager Mike Schaffner.

“The award is very nice, but what’s really important is keeping our people safe and getting them home safe at night,” Schaffner said. “It’s just a recognition that the guys, the team out at Carlin, had a really good year and has done a good job.”

Steve Johnson, manager of surface operations, said the accomplishment was “definitely a team effort.”

“The team’s dedication and forward progress with our safety journey and with our talk in safety and vital behaviors programs have paved our ways to success,” Johnson said.

Schaffner said the employees made it happen, but “it’s bigger than that. We’ve got the support of our corporation, Gary Goldberg, and the whole Newmont upper management team.”

Gary Dowdle, general operation services, and Megan Tibbals, superintendent of process, said it wouldn’t happen without employee involvement.

“I really think the employees having the confidence that they can speak up, that things will get taken care of, and their concerns are heard” help with safety at the site, Tibbals said.

Schaffner said it is definitely the employees’ award.

“Congratulations to the guys for having a safe year,” he said. “We really celebrate it as a whole team in Carlin because the team in Carlin has been doing a great job.”

During the ceremony, two NIOSH awards — coal and metal/nonmetal — were presented for Mine Safety and Health Technology Innovations.

Small Mine Development LLC and J.H. Fletcher & Co. won the metal/nonmetal award for fan handler.

Hanging auxiliary fans in underground mines is difficult and potentially hazardous, said Jessica Kogel of NIOSH. SMD and JH Fletcher developed a purpose-built fan hanging machine. It holds the fan and has a platform for miners to use. The platform moves independently along the length of the fan.

Source: (September 28, 2016) Elko Daily Free Press

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