The winners of this year’s Manitoba Provincial Mine Rescue Competition included a pair of local Hudbay employees, part of a six-person team with personnel from across the province.
Each year, Manitoba’s mine rescue teams take part in a multi-stage competition at a mine somewhere in the province, competing in several different disciplines of the job - entering a mine during an emergency, dealing with the situation, whether it be a fire, injury or person being trapped, then restoring the mine back to operation.
This year, the top spot was won by Team Manitoba, a team made up of mine rescue professionals from each of the three other mines entered in the competition - Hudbay’s Lalor mine team, Vale’s Thompson mine team and the team from Tanco mine in Bernic Lake, near Lac du Bonnet. The Tanco mine hosted the event.
Team Manitoba included two Hudbay personnel, both originally from Creighton - Dean Rainville and Jacob Vancoughnett, both of whom work with Hudbay at Lalor. Joining them on the team were captain Sylvain Amyotte and director of operations Len Bellin, both from the Tanco mine, as well as vice-captain Frank Bushby and Bridget Corriveau from Vale Thompson.
None of the team members had worked together as a team before the competition, but the six-worker patchwork squad still finished first in the competition, beating Team Hudbay, which finished second.
Team Hudbay took first place in the firefighting discipline of the competition, while Team Tanco earned first place in both the first aid and written exam sections. Team Vale’s Sean McKenzie received the technician’s award, while Team Blue won the practical mine rescue skills event.
“I am never surprised by the skills of the men and women who play such a critical role in our industry,” said Richard Trudeau, the vice-president and mine rescue coordinator co-chair for the Mining Association of Manitoba Inc.
“The commitment of our teams is humbling and I am very proud to have been involved in the program all these years.”
Next year’s competition will be hosted by Vale in Thompson.
