Another worker killed in cave-in at Nevada mine

Scott Sonner

Monday, Oct. 25, 1999 | 10:53 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - State and federal safety mining inspectors are investigating an underground cave-in that killed a worker over the weekend at the Ken Snyder Mine in Eureka County.

It is the third mining fatality in Nevada in two weeks.

The latest accident occurred about 3 a.m. Saturday at the gold and silver mine operated by the Midas Joint Venture northeast of Golconda, state officials confirmed today.

"One contractor was fatally injured in a ground fall," said Skip Flanagan, senior mine inspector for the Nevada state mine safety and training section.

State mining inspectors were on the scene along with investigators for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, Flanagan said today.

No other details were being released, he said. He said the company would have to release the name of the victim.

Telephone messages left with Midas Joint Venture in Midas today were not immediately returned.

It marks the eighth mining death in Nevada this year, compared to an average of three mining fatalities in the state annually.

"That is high," Flanagan acknowledged today. He said state officials don't know why there has been a rash of fatalities this year.

"We're looking at it. It is under investigation," he said.

A joint federal-state investigation also was continuing today at the Turquoise Ridge Mine near Golconda following a tunnel collapse that killed two miners on Oct. 12.

Franco-Nevada and Euro-Nevada teamed up to establish the Midas Joint Venture and open the $84 million Ken Snyder Mine in June.