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Open-Pit Mines Keep Arizona Miners Away From Underground Dangers

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 January 2006, 21:00 CST

By Thomas Stauffer, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Jan. 5--Mines are potentially dangerous regardless of type, but Arizona lacks underground mines similar to the Sago Mine in West Virginia, where 12 miners died after an underground explosion.

"The biggest difference for us in Arizona is that our mines are all open-pit, not underground, so our miners do not face the dangers of methane gases and the possibility of explosions or being trapped underground," said Pete Faur, vice president of corporate communications for Phelps Dodge Corp. "But whether it's open-pit or underground, there are inherent dangers in either type of mining." The last operating underground mine in Arizona -- BHP Billiton's San Manuel copper mine -- closed in 1999, Faur said.

Workers from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA, inspect underground mines four times a year and surface mines twice a year, he said.

Union spokesman Manny Armenta said that while President Bush praised the MSHA for the job it does in protecting workers, his administration has proposed gutting the agency's budget.

"MSHA is of vital importance, and we need to make sure the government doesn't slash its ability to protect workers," said Armenta, a regional spokesman for the United Steelworkers of America. "Mining is very dangerous work. Even in open-pit mines, you have very large equipment, you have blasting going on at particular times of the day, and you have temperatures in the thousands of degrees at smelters."

Workers at Tucson-based Asarco LLC mines in Arizona complained of unsafe equipment and conditions prior to the 4-month strike that began in July, said Henry Montao, treasurer and business representative of Operating Engineers Local 428.

"Since the guys went back to work in November, they've been meeting with the company on those kinds of issues, and I think it's now a safe environment," Montao said.

According to MSHA data, 35 have died in Arizona mining accidents since 1993, while 1,036 miners have died over the same period in the United States, including the 12 at the Sago Mine.

Two men died in Arizona last year in accidents at sand and gravel operations, which are included in MSHA mine-fatality data, Montao said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

PD, GMBXF,

Source: The Arizona Daily Star

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