RENO, Nev. — Federal regulators have fined Newmont Mining Corp. more than $500,000 for safety violations that they say contributed to the death of a worker at an underground gold mine in Nevada.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration also announced Tuesday that four supervisors for the Denver-based mining company have agreed to pay a combined $60,000 in individual penalties for their role in the accident at the Midas Mine north of Elko in June 2007.
The agency said managers “showed a disregard for the miners’ welfare” and acted with “more than ordinary negligence” before the victim fell through a sinkhole while operating a large loader about 200 feet below the entrance of the mine.
Thomas Daniel Shaw, 30, of Winnemucca and the loader he was operating fell through the floor June 19, 2007. He had been working to use a mixture of concrete to backfill a space left after ore was removed during the underground mining process, the MSHA said.
Michael A. Davis, the MSHA’s deputy assistant secretary for operations, said several Newmont employees were aware of safety deficiencies at the time but continued to require miners to work and travel in hazardous areas.
Richard Manning, an administrative- law judge for the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, approved the penalties, Davis said in a statement.
The violations included failure to provide adequate controls to guard against cave-ins and failure to provide adequate barricades and signs to warn miners about the hidden hazards of sinkholes, he said.
