19 June 2009
Mine rescue team wins competition
Diavik's mine rescue team has taken top honours at the 52nd annual Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission Mine Rescue Competition. This is our first overall win since we began participating in 2003.
Our mine rescue team won the underground and surface events. In the underground event, we competed against Ekati and Snap Lake diamond mines. In the surface event, we competed against Ekati.
"Congratulations to our mine rescue team on their excellent performance. The competitors, part of our highly skilled mine site emergency response team, train extremely hard to keep our mine and our workers safe. I would also like to congratulate the Ekati and Snap Lake teams for their achievements," said Diavik President and Chief Operating Officer Kim Truter.
Diavik's 2009 mine rescue team included Underground Captain Kelsey Loessl, Surface Captain Brad Rogers, members Yuri Kinakin, Erika Tamboline, Dean Coles, Chris Ethier, Jesse Lepine, Matt Reed, Coach John Arnold, and Diavik Emergency Response Team Coordinator Alex Clinton. The ERT, with over 50 members, includes volunteers from across our mine site workforce.
In the underground event, Diavik took top honours in four of the seven tasks, placing first in the written, rope and rigging, smoke, and obstacle tasks. In the surface event, Diavik won five of seven tasks including obstacle/extrication, fire, rope and rigging, bench, and smoke tasks. Underground also included fire, bench, and first aid tasks while surface also included written and first aid tasks. The Diavik team will now compete at the Western Regional Competition in Fernie, BC in September 2009.
"A lot of hard work really paid off. The results are significant due to the fact that many of this year's competitors were new to the team," said Alex Clinton.
The mine rescue competition, held June 12 and 13 in Yellowknife, coincides with the annual Mining Week event, sponsored by the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines.
The Diavik Diamond Mine is located 300 km. northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and is an unincorporated joint venture between DDMI (60%) and Harry Winston Diamond Limited Partnership (40%). Both companies are headquartered in Yellowknife, Canada. DDMI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto plc of London, England, and Harry Winston Diamond Limited Partnership is a subsidiary of Harry Winston Diamond Corporation of Toronto, Canada. For further information contact Doug Ashbury, Acting Principal Adviser, Communications at Tel: (867) 669-6500, or visit the DDMI website at www.diavik.ca.