U.S. Silver-Idaho, Inc.Mining Incidents in 2012

An unusually strong storm with high winds caused a regional power outage which resulted in the loss of electrical power for most of the Silver valley including surface and underground at the Galena and Coeur mine. This outage effected the hoists at both mine properties.

A severe storm system caused a tree to fall across power transmission lines that service the Coeur mine. This caused a power outage to all surface and underground areas of the Coeur mine including the hoist.

The hoist had been shut down for service and when it was restarted the south electrical pot on the automatic slip regulator arced, burning the contacts. A subsequent inspection revealed that the insulation at the contacts burned through the rubber boot. This pot had been sent in to be refurbished and it appears that there was a small gap in the insulation that caused the problem.

The automatic slip regulator had one phase fail which caused it to ground out. This was caused by a deterioration of the electrical pots.

There was a malfunction in a regulator at the Avista Electric Company substation which supplies power to our facility. This malfunction resulted in a high voltage situation which tripped our high voltage relays causing power to kick out. There was no one in the conveyance when the power tripped. As a precautionary measure we evacuated all underground personnel.

The hoist operator noticed smoke coming from the AC wound rotor motor so he immediately shut down the hoist. Upon examination it was apparent that the rotor had made contact with the stator windings. Since this rotor and stator were not a matched set it is suspected that there are some tolerance issues. We still had two operational hoists to facilitate access.

We experienced a rock burst in the 168 stope on 4600 level which shattered rock on the footwall rib approximately 2' to 4' deep for a distance of about 16' in length. Rock also appeared to have been pushed up from the sill creating a muckpile approximately 3' to 4'high. There was no apparent damage to the back except some surface cracking of the cemented backfill. No crew present.

MG shut down on high north flywheel bearing temp. Hoistman attempted to restart set by turning up the thermostat. Second trip was @ over 200dg. F. A/C motor was making noise (rotor rubbing stator. Hoistman shut down and called (Night shift Foremans) and #3 and Coeur Hoist.

The hoistman had been hoisting very sticky material which caused him to pump the hoist brakes to dislodge it from the skip. The over use of the brakes caused an unbalanced condition in the hydraulic accumulator which in turn caused a safety mechanism in the hoist to start setting the brake resulting in a hot smell. Because of this odor we shut the hoist down until it was checked

A severe storm caused damage to a transmission line resulting in a disruption of power to our facilities which caused us to lose power to our hoists. The power was restored within 20 minutes but the disruption caused a disconnect switch in the power that feeds the Coeur hoist to open and it took almost an additional hour for the Avista Utility crew to restore power to the Coeur.

We experienced a rock burst in the 190 raise at approximately 6:13 Am. The area was inspected at 7:15 by the mine foreman and he notified the Safety department at 8:07 that there was significant damage in the raise. Then he barricaded the affected area. There was a displacement of Timber and a significant amount of rock down blocking raise. Event occurred at blasting time.

A tree fell across an Avista power line that feeds the Galena mine during a storm which produced extremely high winds. No one was riding the shaft conveyances at the time. Crews were asked to stand down until the power was restored by Avista crews at approx. 6:45 P.M. Hoistiman had no problems restarting equipment.

Lost 2300volt and 480volt power to the Galena hoist due to blown fuses. It was determined that the fuse holder was defective so it was replaced. Our primary hoist is the #3 which was not affected so hoisting of the underground crews took place on schedule. This problem also affected power in the office and dry area. Hoist was back on line at 3:50 pm.

The Couer hoist went down due to an electrical problem while hoisting ore from 3400. The electricians had a little trouble identifying the problem but finally determined it to be a burned coil and fuse on the secondary board of the hoist controls. The only crews affected were the diamond driller and cages who instructed to stand down. Hoist was back up at 3:30 pm

Employee was lifting the step of the track mucker to put it into the mucker bucket. Employee was assisting the lift with his leg and his right little finger was caught between the step and the mucker bucket. Right little finger was fractured just below the first joint.

Employee was sitting on motor while EE was mucking with 12b mucker and got sand in his right eye.

The employee was cutting timber for a raise crew. As he lifted a scrap piece of square timber 12""x12""x5' long he got off balance and when he caught himself he felt pain in the lower abdomen mid-line down to the groin.

The employee was rebolting a track drift as part of a 2 man crew. There was a hose stretched down the center of the rail which was supplying air to his partners machine. He started to step over the hose and at the same time his partner pulled some slack causing him to trip. Since his toes were on the ball of the rail when he fell the forward weight transfer caused fractures.

Employee had just finished drilling a hole in the face and as he pulled the steel out of the hole he stepped on a rock and lost his balance. This caused him to lose control of the machine which pivoted forward on the leg and caught his hand in a pinch point. This resulted in a fractured bone in the employee's hand.

Employee had just finished drilling a round with a jackleg drill. His partner pulled the steel out of the chuck and as he stood the machine up he lost his footing and fell backward pinching his hand between the machine and the corner of a rib mat. This caused a laceration to the web between his fore-finger and thumb which required sutures.

The employee was attempting to pull a metal band out that was underneath a bundle of timber when he felt pain in his back. This was diagnosed as a back sprain.

EE was in the process of clearing a blockage in the shaft pocket. He was standing on the pocket floor but was resting one foot on a reinforcement rod which was in close proximity to the shaft gate. EE closed the gate but did not realize that there was not enough clearance between his foot and the bolts that connect the gate to the ram. It caught his toe and caused a fracture

Employee was unloading cribbing from a timber skip in the raise and staging it beside him to move into the stope. This material is approximately 5' long and weighs 30 - 40 lbs. As he unloaded a piece he felt a pain in his back which was diagnosed as a sprain.

EE is a miner trainee and was observing a slushing operation. The trainer was using light signals to direct the operator. He had been warned not to get too close to the chain that was supporting a Sheave block for the slusher cable but he walked into the hazard zone just as the chain broke which caused one end of the chain to recoil and strike him causing a contusion.

EE was preparing to erect a staging from the raise to a muck pile to bolt a raise up round when a rock approximately 12""x15""x 5"" rolled against his foot and ankle causing significant bruising and swelling.

Employee was working at the top shaft station. A crew of painters were doing elevated work out of a man basket adjacent to EE's position. The painters pulled some slack in a hose which caused it to dislodge a piece of angle iron which fell and hit a sloped roof, deflecting it and causing it to hit employee on the helmet. He incurred a neck strain and a laceration on his elbow.

The employee was engaged in the slushing phase of his mining cycle. He walked by a compressed air ventilation device ie:(whiz bang) and a particle was blown into his eye. He reported that he was wearing safety glasses which is required by our safety policy.

The employee was drilling the face with a jackleg drill. As he pulled the drill out of a back hole he felt a pain in his shoulder. This injury occurred during the course of his normal work and was not the result of any occurrence out of the ordinary.

The employee was attempting to remove a roller rack for a slusher from a raise skip when he lost his grip with one hand and the full weight of the equipment was suddenly transferred to the remaining hand. The roller rack weighs approximately 70 to 85 lbs.

EE was cleaning threads on a cone crusher while other crew members were extracting the mantle. A worker yelled at EE to free the chain on the chain hoist and he stepped into a 1' diameter circular hole that had not been covered after the extraction. This injury was reported as a minor injury and because of persistent symptoms we referred him to a Dr. on 8/17/12.

The employee was attempting to move a rock that weighed approximately 40 lbs to use it for a fulcrum to extricate rock bolts that were buried in mud. He was not in a good position to lift the rock and it caused him to rotate his arm while lifting and this is what caused the injury.

Employee was attempting to pull the leg of a jackleg drill out of the muck when he strained his lower back. The leg had sunk into the muckpile while he was drilling the face.

Employee was rerailing a timber truck using the side stake on the truck for leverage. He did not have sufficient clearance from another timber truck so when he dropped it on the rail it pinched his hand between the stake and the other timber truck. This accident was originally reported by the employee as a first aid, but it was determined on 4/2/12 There was a treatable injury.

EE was bolting with a jackleg drill and as he attempted to insert the split bolt driver that was in the chuck into the bolt he lost his footing and the machine continued to move forward and rotated back on the swivel to the locked back position. At this moment his left middle finger was in the pinch point of the machine.

EE was guiding the rod eye of a hydraulic cylinder with his hand in order to place blocking under the cylinder body when the rod suddenly and unexpectedly extended pinching his thumb between the rod eye and the wood supporting the boom. This could have been avoided by following our policy of using pry bars for this activity and cycling the cylinder to flush out air locks.

The employee was breaking a large rock on the grizzly with a doublejack when a shard of rock flew back and struck him on the left forearm. He was wearing Kevlar sleeves but swinging the doublejack had caused one of the sleeves to slide down which exposed a portion of his arm.

A round had been blasted on the previous shift which partially buried the grizzly. Employee was attempting to work the muck through the grizzly. The muck started to flow and a rock that had been buried in the muck pile slid off the rib contacting his knee and causing a laceration which required sutures.

The employee was pulling muck in the 4000 pocket. The chute gate is operated by a pneumatic cylinder and when he threw the lever to open the gate a particle was blown into his eye. This was caused by an air leak which had developed in a steel supply line that was directly beside the employee. He was wearing prescription glasses w/ side sheilds.

An employee was working on a Welden pump that was pumping water from a concrete pour. There was a leak in the discharge hose which sprayed water in his face when the pump cycled. The water sprayed under his safety glasses and caused significant irritation to his eyes. He was prescribed medication to treat the irritation.

Employee was bolting the previous round. He bent over to pick up a bolt and when he stood back up a small particle of rust or metal that had collected around the edge of his safety glasses fell into his eye and became embedded.

The employee used a rap wrench instead of a long handled tool to break the bands on a bundle of timber and when the band broke one end recoiled and contacted his arm causing a laceration which required sutures.

Employee had just finished drilling a lifter hole with a jackleg drill and was pulling the drill out of the hole when he felt a pain in his back. This injury was initially reported as a minor injury but persistent symptoms caused the employee to seek medical care on 9/26/12. This was diagnosed as a strain and the employee received a cortisone injection.

EE turned on the air valve for a device called a whiz bang which uses compressed air for ventilating and cooling. A particle of rust or metal blew into his eye and had to be scraped out.

EE was changing a locomotive draw bar to a different style. He leaned the first drawbar against the loci and while he was positioning the second bar the first one fell and struck his little finger. This accident was not reported until 9/5/12 and we just got a diagnosis 9/25/12 due to his having an anomalous physiology resulting from a birth defect on that hand.

The employee was pulling out of a jackleg hole when he inadvertently opened the chuck tender which released the steel unexpectedly. This caused the machine to fall forward and his hand was pinched between the nose of the machine and the rock. His glove was caught in the chuck tender so he couldn't pull his hand away.

The employee had just dropped off some supplies on the 4600 ramp. When he re-entered the tractor to drive back down the ramp he either bumped the shift lever or did not have it fully engaged which caused the conveyance to free-wheel. This caused him to loose control and the tractor tipped on its side.

The employee noticed on 6/16/12 that his eye was irritated and small metal fragments were found in his eye by a physician. He was not aware of how or when the material the got there but since he had worked the night before he assumed that it was from something he did at work. He had not filed an accident report.

Walking under slusher cable and a piece of cable stuck the top of hand. On March 7, 2012 hand looked swollen and infected.

The employee was riding in an empty ore car when it derailed and made contact with a charged air line. This contact punctured the pipe releasing compressed air which blew rust and fine particles of rock into his eyes. He was wearing safety glasses at the time but they became dislodged by air flow. Investigation revealed a fishplate had fractured and has since been replaced.

Employee was using hot gloves to cover power lines with 2 halves of 6"" x 10' plastic pipe. The top half slipped out of his hands and hit him on the side of the head.

The employee had placed a jack leg drill on the muck pile which was on an inclined plane. He then stepped back to retrieve some rock bolts and when he turned back around he slipped and his chin struck the crows foot on the leg which because of the slope was a little over waste high.

On 7/5/2012 the employee reported that he has been experiencing pain in his right elbow for approximately one year and it seems to be getting worse. The pain appears to be associated with hammering nails which comprises a good deal of the work he does underground. We made him an appointment and he received a cortisone injection on 7/9/2012.

This employee showed a standard threshold shift in hearing in his left ear of 25.00.

I was informed that the employee would be undergoing a surgical procedure to relieve the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome in his right hand on 3/1/2012. He will also have the procedure performed on his left hand at a date to be determined by his physician.

EE inadvertently struck an over head catwalk mid swing while breaking rock on Grizzly with a double jack He went to the doctor for pain and received a full release to return to work. His pain continued and he was encouraged to go to physical therapy where it was determined that the incident had triggered symptoms of a repetitive use injury. I became aware of this on 3/14/12.

Employee was rock bolting out of the raise timber. During the course of the day he noticed pain and stiffness in he left leg and lower back. As he was moving his equipment from one set to another his leg would not support his body weight. He could not correlate this injury to any specific action. It just got progressively worse through the day until it ""gave out""