Mining Incidents in Arizona

Our mixer driver was hauling for Freeport McMoRan at their Morenci mine location, the load was rejected and sent back, driver followed the escort down a hill with a full load, lost brakes and turned the mixer on its driver's side.

Weld crew initiated an argon purge on a 30" pipe that had been fit up afternoon prior. When argon purge was established, two welders began to make their root pass welds. Upon inspection "sugaring" was observed. a welder entered the open end of the 30" pipe for unknown reasons where they were found by a coworker to be unresponsive. No witnesses observed them enter the pipe.

Operator error. Failed to set crane up in digging mode. Employee did not set the travel locks prior to digging.

Upon information provided injury occurred while tarping load. EE fell from trailer to the ground.

Employee in flatbed service truck was parked on a waste dump at the Mission Mine. A 320 ton haul truck ran over flatbed service truck resulting in fatal accident.

Employee went to prime the diaphragm pump located outside the stripping machine building, adjacent to the hydraulic room. Eight minutes pass where EE is unaccounted for prior to being found unresponsive, kneeling in liquid, face against the stainless steel flange of the tank house return HDPE line.

During maintenance, a miner was struck by the boom of an excavator that was being used to position crusher parts; causing him to lose balance and fall approximately 11 feet. The fall resulted in several broken bones. MSHA arrived on site the afternoon of the accident and started an investigation. *Employee died on 5/26/2015.

The crew was attempting to align a section of pipe, which is 40 feet long, when the 2 pipes disconnected and 1 end of the pipe that the crew was trying to install slipped out of the joint and struck the employee. An excavator was being used to position a 36" pipe diameter by 40' long section pipe to connect it to another section of pipe.

Fatality due to fall from heights.

A scraper and a service truck collided head-on while traveling in opposite directions on a haul road. The impact ignited a fire to both equipment and resulted in fatal injuries to the service truck driver.

The investigation is not complete, but as of now it appears a haul truck struck a pick-up truck. The cause of the accident is unknown at this time.

Employees were placing 24" HDPE pipe, when the pipe suddenly shifted and rolled on top of one of the workers. He was treated and stabilized at the scene. He was subsequently transported to a hospital, where he later passed away.

The investigation is not complete, but as of now it appears that the haul truck he was driving made contact with the safety berm and tipped on its side. The caue of the accident is unknown at this time.

The victim had been instructing persons making a belt splice. He fell through a 4 foot by 6 foot opening 28 feet to the floor below.

Employee (electrician apprentice) and a co-worker (journeyman electrician) were working on a light fixture of the SX upper tailings booster when he came in contact with energized wire.

Employee was found on the ground in front of a Cat 777D water truck. It appears that the employee fell to the ground from the equipment. There were no witnesses to the event. Autopsy report is pending.

An electrician that was trouble shooting an installation was electrocuted by a single leg of a 3 phase 4160 volt service.

The electrician was in the process of trouble shooting an electrical problem in the line of power feeding the 8200 Dragline. At the time of the accident the victim was in the KM-12 junction box when he contacted live electrical components resulting in fatal injuries.

Employee was crushed between tire and fuel tank.

Victim was operating a motorized scraper, without a seat belt. The belt was in good condition but he was not using it. He ran over a large pile of dirt and fell out of the machine. The machine ran him over.