Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 02/01) - Derek Roberts and his family are counting their stars that he was able to make it out of Giant Mine alive.

The veteran miner was working underground on the evening of Oct. 16 when rock loosened by a blasting operation fell on him, leaving him with serious injuries and his life in peril.

From his room at University Hospital in Edmonton, Roberts' wife, June, related how the mine's scoop operator made a desperate bid for survival and won.

"Nobody knew he was hurt until he found someone further up the shaft," June Roberts told Yellowknifer. "It took him two hours to get out of the mine."

Roberts was "scaling" rock -- a procedure where a miner prods a rock face underground, checking for loose debris after blasting with explosives.

At approximately 9 p.m., part of the rock face collapsed, crushing his right lower leg and hand, and severing his thumb. He also broke three vertebrae in his back.

"He looks like a turtle now," said June, referring to the plastic baseboard used to stabilize his back.

According to June, it was Roberts, even though he was in great pain, who freed himself from the rubble.

With the battery cable to his helmet pinned under the rock, Roberts was confronted with his first Herculean task.

After disentangling himself, he located the scoop he had used to transport himself to the mine's 350-metre level, and hauled his broken body into it for the long, painful ride to the surface, his severed thumb still clenched in his fist.

"I don't know how he managed it, but he got on that piece of crap and drove out," June said, referring to the scoop tram's agonizingly slow average speed of two miles per hour.

An hour later, June said Roberts came across fellow miner Baxter Pond at the 900 level. The horrified worker immediately summoned another miner, Craig Janz, and after contacting the surface to declare the emergency, Roberts was transported the rest of the way on a jeep to a waiting ambulance. It wasn't until medical staff removed the bandages from his injured hand -- applied on scene by paramedics -- that they realized Roberts was still clutching his severed thumb.

It was decided before Roberts and his wife were transported to Edmonton that his thumb could not be saved.

"They said they could re-attach it, but it probably wouldn't function," June said. "It was too badly crushed and torn."

A long recovery ahead

Roberts was not out of the woods yet. While in surgery in Edmonton, Both of his lungs collapsed, and he remained on on oxygen support until last Tuesday.

Nonetheless, June believes her husband is a survivor and doctors say he will pull through.

It may be a while before he walks again, however.

He has a steel rod in his leg, and it will likely be three months before he can stand on it.

When asked if she thinks her husband's mining days are over -- he has worked at Giant Mine since 1981 -- she said it was something far from both their minds for the time being.

"We're not thinking about stuff like that right now," said June. "We're just looking forward to getting home."

June held special praise for those who have assisted them over the last couple of weeks. The co-workers who helped him to the surface, the fire and emergency crews who first tended to him on scene, and the doctor and nurses who stabilized him in Yellowknife.

She also gave thanks to Canadian North, who flew her sister and their four daughters down to Edmonton to be with them for a few days at almost no cost. Roberts' union, the Canadian Auto Workers, and management at the mine were also singled out for their help.

Canadian Auto Workers plant chair Steve Peterson said what happened to Roberts was unfortunate, but it was all part of the risk being a miner. He also said, as June seemed to indicate, that there was no one to blame for the incident.

According to Peterson, an investigation by a union and management health and safety official, including a Workers' Compensation Board mining inspector the next day determined as much.

"His scoop was running at the time, so no one could hear the falling rock," said Peterson. "It just makes you aware that any day you go to work something untoward can happen to you."