Valley says all 39 employees have been rescued from an underground mine in Canada | Economie

“The rescue was carried out safely and everyone is fine,” the company said in a statement.

You are 39 employees were arrested on Sunday (26), after an accident that damaged the elevator that transports employees to and from the underground mine that produces nickel.

At the time of the accident the workers were at a depth of between 900 and 1200 meters. They needed to get out of the mine via a secondary exit ladder system.

None of the miners who were arrested were Brazilian.

“I would like to congratulate our rescue team,” said Vale President Eduardo Bartolomeo, who went to Sudbury, Ontario, and met the staff and rescue team. “This is great news coming from very difficult circumstances,” he added.

• See photos of the Valley Mine where the workers were trapped
• Miners talk about accident and rescue: ‘Two hours up the stairs’

The Brazilian miner said it would conduct an investigation “so the company can learn from the incident and take steps to ensure it does not happen again”.

“Repatriating the safe and healthy 39 employees to their homes was our top priority, and we are pleased that the emergency plan worked,” Bartolomeo said. “Everyone is safe now.”

Production at the mine has been temporarily suspended.

The workers were trapped after they had an accident on Sunday afternoon that damaged the axle of the means of transportation (a type of elevator) between the surface and the subsoil.

According to Vale, the excavator it was being transported sped off upon reaching the mine, blocking access and causing the elevator to malfunction.

The personnel left the mine with the support of the Vale rescue team through a secondary exit ladder system.

The Toten mine began operations in February 2014. The project expects to produce copper, nickel and precious metals over a period of 20 years.

Vale has 6 mines in the Sudbury Basin area. The company has about 4,000 employees in the region, about 200 of whom are in the Toten mine.

In the first six months of 2021, the Toten mine produced 3,600 tons of nickel on site.