The Nevada Mining Association’s (NVMA) 2014 Safety Awards honor the individuals and operators throughout the mining industry dedicated to fostering a culture of safety throughout their mine site and supporting the industry-wide credo to send every mining employee home safe and healthy after every shift.
“This year’s honorees have spent the past year teaching, drilling and applying best practices related to safety on the mine site, and it’s time to pay tribute to their dedication to safety,” said Tim Crowley, NVMA president. “Every single employee on a mine site plays a pivotal role in ensuring Nevada mines are safe. These awards recognize those companies and professionals that stand out above all others.”
The NVMA Safety Awards are given annually to both mine operators and individual mining employees in several categories, and data for the 2014 awards is based on performance in the 2013 calendar year.
Operator awards are given to the top three mines in designated categories based on their safety rate, which is calculated by a formula factoring the number of employees on site, number of man hours for that year and penalties for lost-time accidents, number of reportable incidents and lost-time days. Individual awards are selected based on nominations only, and those nominations are judged on both the personal safety record of the individual and that person’s involvement in advocating safety in the workplace.
This year, 27 awards will be given to mine operators and 44 awards will be given to individual employees during an event at NVMA’s annual convention in Lake Tahoe on Saturday, Sept. 6. The full list of NVMA 2014 Safety Awards winners can be found below.
Mine Operators Safety Awards
Surface Operations:
Large – 300+ employees
First: Round Mountain Gold Corporation – Round Mountain
Second: Barrick Gold of North America – Goldstrike
Third: Newmont Mining Corporation – Phoenix
Medium – 100-299 employees
All of the following operations share first place as they had no reportable injuries in 2013.
Comstock Mining – Comstock Mine
Barrick Gold of North America – Goldstrike Mine, Roaster Operations
Barrick Gold of North America – Ruby Hill
Newmont Mining Corporation – Mill 6
Small – 20-99 employees
First: Waterton Global Mining Company – Esmeralda Mine/Mill
Underground Operations:
Large – 300+ employees
First: Barrick Gold of North America – Cortez Underground
Second: Barrick Gold of North America – Turquoise Ridge
Third: Barrick Gold of North America – Goldstrike, Meikle/Rodeo
Medium – 100-299 employees
First: Small Mine Development – SSX Mine
Second: Newmont Mining Corporation – Midas Mine
Small – 20-99 employees
First: Small Mine Development – Lee Smith Mine
First: Klondex Gold and Silver Mining – Fire Creek
First: Small Mine Development – Lee Smith Mine
Non-Metal Mining Category
All of the following operations share first place as they had no reportable injuries in 2013.
Art Wilson Company – Adams Claim
Baker Hughes – Argenta Mine and Mill
EP Minerals – Colado Mine
Gypsum Resources – Blue Diamond Hill
Halliburton Energy Services – Rossi Jig Plant
Halliburton Energy Services – Dunphy Mill
M-I LLC – Greystone Mine
National Oilwell Varco – Nevada Operations
Contractors Category
All of the following operations share first place as they had no reportable injuries in 2013.
American Mining & Tunneling – Fire Creek
Ames Construction – Nevada Operations
J.S. Redpath – Bazza Mine
N.A. Degerstrom – Liberty Shadow Project
Individual Safety Awards
General Manager:
Mark Immonen, J.S. Redpath
Safety Manager:
Simon Pollard, Barrick Gold North America
Safety Professional:
Caleb Trease, Round Mountain Gold Corporation
Chad Chadwell, Barrick Cortez
Chris Torres, Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc.
Gorden Maxwell, Newmont Mining Corporation
Jim Peterson, Silver Standard Resources, Marigold Mine
Mine Manager/Superintendent:
Jason Hill, Newmont Mining Corporation
Mike Eiselein, Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc.
General Supervisor/Middle Management:
Byron Bisiaux, Round Mountain Gold Corporation
Demo Herrera, Newmont Mining Corporation
John Reeves, Barrick Cortez
Ray Broadway, Barrick Turquoise Ridge
Troy Hawkins, Allied Nevada Gold Corp.
Trainer:
Bob Hunt, Barrick Turquoise Ridge
Deanna Hall, Round Mountain Gold Corporation
Julio Martin, Allied Nevada Gold Corporation
Supervisor:
Gary Utter, Allied Nevada Gold Corporation
Joe Huelsen, Silver Standard Resources, Marigold Mine
Kim Spear, Newmont Mining Corporation
Lou Elu, Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc.
Robert Perchetti, Round Mountain Gold Corporation
Non-Supervisory Trainer:
James Van Bryant, Barrick Turquoise Ridge
Kurtis Kay, Barrick Cortez
Neil Serrano, Coeur Mining, Rochester Mine
Non-Supervisory Emergency Response:
Chuck Dickey, Barrick Cortez
Lance Ivory, Barrick Cortez
Toney Powers, Newmont Mining Corporation
Safety Champion
Lee MacDiarmid, Barrick Cortez
DC Larreau, Barrick Goldstrike Mines Inc.
James Hall, Barrick Turquoise Ridge
Sam Schick, Boart Longyear, Twin Creeks Mine
Dennis DeBraga, Coeur Mining, Rochester Mine
Jonathan Haynes, Graymont U.S. Western
Bonnie Upshaw, Round Mountain Gold Corporation
Vincente Ramirez, Round Mountain Gold Corporation
Jim Schmidt, Klondex Mining, Fire Creek
Greg Parker, Klondex Mining, Midas
Cory Mills, Newmont Mining Corporation
Colleen Schaffer, Newmont Mining Corporation
Linsey Burger, Newmont Mining Corporation
Will Frederick, Newmont Mining Corporation
Darrel Green, Silver Standard Resources, Marigold Mine
Special Awards:
Kim Ruiz, Outstanding Career in Safety