Troy Mine partnership dissolved

By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian
TROY - Federal regulators say their relationship with management at the Troy Mine has deteriorated in the months following a fatal accident there, forcing them to dissolve a partnership with the company after mine management ignored a number of safety recommendations.

At the same time, inspectors with the Mine Safety and Health Administration have handed down yet another round of violations at the mine, several of which deal specifically with inadequate underground supports.

Failed support systems have been blamed in the July 30, 2007, collapse that killed 55-year-old mine mechanic Michael Ivins. Last month, MSHA released a report concluding Ivins died because Troy Mine management failed to properly shore up the rock roof, despite repeated warnings of dangerous conditions.

Revett Minerals has challenged that finding, but the federal violations continue to mount.

In MSHA's latest safety inspection, completed Feb. 6, regulators handed down 28 citations and 13 orders (orders are considered more serious than citations). Several of the violations related to underground supports.

Since the July accident, investigators have levied 113 citations and 25 orders against the company.

Revett, however, is challenging most of the violation notices related to ground support problems, and is asking regulators why, if conditions are so bad, the federal government has decided to pull out of a cooperative agreement with the mine.

That voluntary agreement was signed in February 2006, and went above and beyond MSHA's normal regulatory requirements.

According to MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere, it established better communication lines between miners and regulators in an attempt to mitigate the dangers of underground mining. It created accident-reduction initiatives, she said, and set up avenues for the company to cooperate with investigators.

But agency officials felt their relationship with the company “began deteriorating in the wake of the investigation into the July 2007 fatality,” Louviere said, and regulators were concerned because “the company had resisted a number of recommendations put forth by MSHA.”

Another collapse, in the last week of 2007, heightened those concerns, and on Jan. 11 MSHA sent a letter to mine manager Doug Miller. That letter canceled the agreement between MSHA and the company, citing “the recent tragic event and ongoing issues.”

Among those issues is the contention that safety recommendations made by the Mine Safety and Health Administration have been “resisted” by the company, Louviere said.

Mine manager Miller responded in a Jan. 17 letter to regulators, saying he was “disappointed” and adding “it is our belief that it is just as important now, if not more important, that we continue to work cooperatively with MSHA to ensure a safe and healthy work environment for our employees.”

Miller's letter did not, however, address how that cooperation might have been affected by the company's resistance to MSHA's safety recommendations.

Carson Rife, vice president of operations at Revett, said he was unaware of any resistance to federal safety recommendations, and added his company intends to continue working cooperatively with the federal government, despite regulators' decision to terminate the agreement.

“We want to try to do whatever is best for workplace safety,” Rife said. “We thought the cooperative agreement with MSHA was a good way to make sure that happened.”

The mine, he said, recently celebrated six months without a lost-time accident.