[miningmx.com] — GREAT Basin Gold said Wednesday that the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has detected a potential pattern of violations at its Hollister mine in Nevada.
The group said the MHSA has set out a process by which Hollister may work with the government body to avoid further sanctions.
MSHA’s initial finding is based mostly on alleged violations, rather than violations which have been fully adjudicated. To date, most of the alleged violations that form the basis for MSHA’s finding have been challenged by Great Basin, the company said in a statement.
The company is confident that it will prevail in the great majority of those challenges and, believes for that and other reasons, it should be removed from the watch-list without any penalties being invoked.
Legislation provides that mine operators may be subject to closure orders for certain areas of the mine affected by certain specific types of violations until the mine receives a clean MSHA inspection.
In most cases, such closures would affect areas of the mine that are not critical to production or would be corrected within a very short time.
Ferdi Dippenaar, President and CEO, commented: “While we at Great Basin disagree with MSHA’s potential pattern finding and the bases for that finding, we take this matter very seriously. We are deeply committed to the health and safety of our workforce. We are proud of our safety record and have been recognized by the Nevada Mining association with safety awards.
“At the same time, Great Basin has been proactive in its approach to MSHA inspections, employing a former MSHA inspector who does regular mine inspections, which has recently resulted in Great Basin receiving a clean quarterly inspection. We will work with MSHA through their established process to avoid an adverse finding so that Hollister will continue to be a safe workplace and a productive member of the mining industry for years to come,” he said.
