Mould problem forces workers off minesite

A mould problem at the Minto Mine has forced the company to adjust accommodations and its shift schedules, Capstone Mining president Stephen Quin confirmed this morning.

A mould problem at the Minto Mine has forced the company to adjust accommodations and its shift schedules, Capstone Mining president Stephen Quin confirmed this morning.

Quin said 46 employees and contract workers were bused out yesterday because of the loss of 78 beds in the 194-bed camp.

Generally, however, there will be minimal or no disruption to the workforce or production at the open-pit operation, he said.

He said 32 of the workers who’ve been put on temporary layoff will be brought back as soon as possible.

Quin said the exploration drilling crew of 14 is now being put up in Carmacks, and nine of them were already scheduled to leave the mine.

A number of construction workers, he added, were already scheduled to leave the site because the new water treatment plant is essentially finished.

The Pelly Construction crew, which runs all the heavy mining equipment, was scheduled to downsize as the normal wintertime push to stockpile ore ahead of the spring runoff was coming to an end but some have been laid off temporarily, he said.

Shift scheduling, he added, will be tweaked to ensure there is no overlap temporarily requiring two beds for one job as the cross shifts come and go.

Randall Thompson, general manager for the mine, said today the issue was raised during a recent town hall staff meeting when an employee asked for assurances the mould in the washrooms did not pose a health risk.

The mine safety committee met and reviewed the situation Saturday when it was decided to vacate the two staff wings, primarily affected the Pelly Construction crew which has gone from 69 to 40.

He said the mine is working with the company to try to find temporary camp accommodations so the crew can be ramped back up as soon as possible.

Quin said Capstone Mining has hired an environmental expert who will arrive this week to make a full assessment and determine the extent of the mould situation and what needs to be done to fix the problem.

The Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board was notified Friday of the situation, Kurt Dieckmann, the board’s director of occupational health and safety, said this morning.

Dieckmann said exposure to mould does not usually cause any significant or long-lasting issues for the normal healthy person.

And in almost all cases of mould concerns investigated by the board, the type of mould is of the penicillium, a variety, and not black mould, which has a nasty reputation, he explained.

Dieckmann said the penicillium variety releases airborne spores which can cause adverse effects for those who are allergic to mould or who have pre-existing respiratory problems such as asthma.

Chances are, he added, if an employee hasn’t already felt sick, he probably won’t.

“The best thing you can do is remove yourself from the area of the spores and once you remove yourself it (exposure to the mould) does not have any long-lasting effects for the normal healthy individual,” he said.

He said the issue with black mould for those who are allergic to it arises when the individual comes into contact with it.

Unlike the penicillium variety, Dieckmann explained, black mould is a slimy mould that does not give off airborne spores, but must be touched before it causes any problems.

He said safety board staff will know exactly what type of mould is present once the environmental consultant has had a chance to conduct the assessment this week.

“The company is doing an environmental assessment to determine what remediation is appropriate and that is exactly what we would expect the company to do in this situation.”

Quin said the two affected bunkhouses are the older trailers on site, one going back to the mid-1990s, and the other was among those moved in after the company took ownership of the property in 2005.

Capstone began an effort to enhance the accommodations with 48 new units last fall and is currently awaiting the another new 48 units to be delivered before the ice bridge goes out at the beginning of April, he said.

Quin said the result of the consultant’s inspection this week will help determine whether the mould can be cleaned up or the trailer units replaced altogether.

Once the problem was uncovered the company began meeting with employees last week to keep them up to speed, Quin said.

He said while some were concerned over any more exposure, there were also those who just wanted to working while the issue was being dealt with.