Three dead in underground mine accident at Russia's Nornickel
MOSCOW - Three people were killed on Tuesday in an accident at Norilsk Nickel's Taimyr underground mine in Siberia, the Russian mining giant said.
The world's largest palladium producer and second-largest nickel producer said the facility was still working after the incident. It is one of the company's main mines in Siberia and contains mixed ores.
At 16:30 local time three workers were found dead at a depth of 1 345 m,, Nornickel said, adding that there had not been a fire, or a rockslide.
Nornickel, part-owned by Russian businessman Vladimir Potanin and aluminium giant Rusal, is also a major producer of platinum and copper.
Shares in Nornickel fell quickly in Moscow when the company reported the accident but recovered after it clarified that the mine was unaffected. The shares were up 0.6% as of 14:13 GMT.
The deaths could have been caused by methane gas poisoning, TASS news agency reported, citing an unnamed source.
"Three people died, no one is injured," TASS quoted the deputy prime minister of the Krasnoaysk region, Anatoly Tsykalov, as saying. "The reasons for the situation are being investigated. There were no technological violations at the mine."
According to Tsykalov, two miners were initially missed at the mine, with a third disappearing after going in search of them.
All three were found dead with unopened self-protective breathing equipment, which is supposed to be used in case of emergency, on them, he added.
"Nornickel is conducting an internal investigation into the incident and will provide new information as it becomes available," the company said in a statement.
The mine, launched in 1982, is one of the deepest in Europe. In 2015 Nornickel said the Taimyr facility produced 35% of the company's total nickel output, 21% of its copper, 38% of its cobalt and 15% of its platinum group metals.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation