Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

QAMANITTUAQ/BAKER LAKE
Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM) has an extensive safety program in place at its Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake after asbestos particles were found in dust samples earlier this year.

The mill interior is one of two main areas of concern over asbestos particles found in the dust at the Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake. - photo courtesy of Dale Coffin

AEM corporate director of communications Dale Coffin said there appears to be a small seam of asbestos fibres interwoven into the ore body that's inconsistently dispersed throughout the ore zone.

He said the company takes the situation very seriously and immediately put engineer-controlled measures in place to protect its employees.

"Our first priority is to protect the health and safety of our employees," said Coffin.

"It required us to put new measures and procedures in place so our employees are well-protected in areas where there's dust.

"We're doing samples throughout the pit to understand exactly how much is there and where.

"It appears it could be part of the soapstone formation, but we're not exactly sure yet."

Coffin said the main area of concern for AEM is enclosed areas with a high concentration of dust, such as crusher or mill areas.

He said controls include improvements to the ventilation systems, enclosing conveyors and using water sprays on them, and installing doors between conveyor belt-ways and the building.

"Our priority is on minimizing the dust, and employees in those areas now have to wear respirators.

"We also have them remove their coveralls in the work area, so they're not going back and contaminating areas not normally exposed to dust.

"So we have a lot of hygiene programs in place, and we're sampling all areas of the mine site.

"Right now, we're pretty confident it's contained in the crusher and mill areas."

AEM has been taking dust samples since the operation began in 2010.

An outside laboratory identified the possibility of asbestos fibres in January of 2012, and a second lab confirmed them in March.

The Nunavut Mining Act sets acceptable limits by the 1994-95 American Conference of Governmental and Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) standard for asbestos.

AEM has adopted the even more stringent 2010 ACGIH standard.

The '94-95 standard maximum is 0.19 fibres per cubic centimetre (f\cc) over a 12-hour shift or time weighted average, while the 2010 version lists 0.095 f\cc.

Coffin said AEM voluntarily adapted the 2010 standard for its monitoring programs.

He said the company does not have enough data from its sample results to provide an accurate reading on the level of asbestos fibre in the Meadowbank dust.

"We have to do more sampling before we know what the exposure levels might be.

"The readings we're getting are inconsistent, and we need three to six consecutive samples to determine the exposure level.

"We're sampling in stationary areas -- floors and equipment -- but we don't have a lot of people working in the crusher and mill areas and they're always moving.

"We've had some readings higher than the standard, and some lower, from the same areas."

Coffin said the inconsistencies have not deterred AEM from taking steps to manage the hazard.

He said it will be several more months before AEM has enough data to determine the exposure levels.

"Our responsibility, first and foremost, is to our employees, so we've held meetings and awareness training with all our employees.

"We also have a responsibility to let the community know what's going on, but we had to do all our employee training and get our safety measures in place before making sure the community understands the situation.

"Prolonged exposure to asbestos causes problems, and it might be 15 to 20 years before symptoms surface, so we took immediate action to put protective controls in place.

"We're doing regular samples on a monthly basis and monitoring the air, and we hired an external expert on asbestos management because we're not experts on asbestos."

Coffin said there is concern among the workforce, but the workers are taking it in stride and adapting to the new control measures.

He said AEM is working very closely with each work team to ensure they fully understand the new procedures and are abiding by them.

"It's an unfortunate occurrence, but we're using controls to minimize it.

"We're protecting our employees through engineer controls, better ventilation, suppressing the dust with sprays and maintaining good hygiene practises.

"The workers also wear slippers over their boots in the camp and dining areas to minimize the dust, and that's been in place for sometime as a common housekeeping issue."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.