Manitoba’s annual mine rescue competition took place last weekend in Snow Lake, with a team from Thompson taking home the spoils.
The Mining Association of Manitoba Inc. (MAMI) held the Manitoba Provincial Mine Rescue Competition May 26-27 in several venues in and around Snow Lake. For the first time, the competition was held without an entry from Flin Flon, thanks to last year’s closure of Hudbay’s 777 mine, its subsequent shutdown of most of its local operations and moving resources and workers to Snow Lake.
The competition consisted of mine rescue units from three mines - Hudbay’s Lalor mine in Snow Lake, Thompson’s Vale mine and Tanco mine from Bernic Lake, near Lac du Bonnet. Lalor’s team featured several Flin Flon-based personnel, including Mike Desjarlais - a former Flin Flon mine rescue captain - as the team’s captain and vice-captain Katerina Njegovan.
A fourth team was entered in as a “mutual aid team” with a captain and director from Lalor, then two team members each from Tanco and Vale. Former Hudbay Flin Flon mine rescue captain George Warman served as the mutual aid team’s captain.
Day one of the two-day event featured the four teams taking part in a simulated underground and first aid mine rescue mission, then a written exam. Day two included firefighting tests and a technician’s competition, followed later by a tactical skills event on a course designed by Flin Flon’s Marshall Manns, himself a multi-time competition winner.
Hudbay Lalor earned the first aid award, with Vale winning the written exam portion and Tanco taking the firefighting stage, but Vale ended up as competition champs, with the mutual aid team coming in second overall.
Next year’s Manitoba competition will be hosted by Tanco at Bernic Lake.
