MINING NEWS: Boulder kills geologist at Red Dog mine

A geologist at the Red Dog lead-zinc mine in northwest Alaska died in an accident Dec. 15.

Jeffrey Huber, 51, was killed when a boulder fell from the side of an open pit, causing massive head and chest injuries. Huber was conducting routine grade control work at the time, approaching the rock that the mining equipment was extracting and directing where it should go — to the waste rock pile or to the mill, according to Red Dog’s general manager, John Knapp.

Huber, from Anchorage, had been working at Red Dog since early 2004, but had significant experience in the mining industry, including at Fort Knox gold mine near Fairbanks, Knapp said. “At this point there is no reason to feel that procedures or work practices were at fault,” Knapp told Mining News. The area where the accident took place was closed and equipment was left in place so that Mine Safety and Health Administration representatives and an in-house team from mining company Teck Cominco could investigate. One possibility that will be looked at is whether earth tremors could have shaken the boulder loose.

Prior to this, the last time a fatality occurred at a large mine in Alaska was in 1995, according to MSHA’s Web site. At Red Dog Teck Cominco made grief counselors available to employees to help them deal with the tragedy.

—Sarah Hurst