Klondike gold miner's death probed

The Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board is probing a workplace incident that killed a miner in the Klondike gold fields late last week.

Jimmy Conklin, 65, died Thursday when the front-end loader he was operating flipped onto his cab, pinning him inside.

RCMP say Conklin was working at a site on Mile 31 of the Dominion Creek Road when the accident happened. He was dead by the time emergency workers arrived.

The Yukon's coroner's office is also investigating Conklin's death.

"I was devastated. Like, he was a dad for me," said Phil Bartholomeus, who worked at Conklin's placer gold mine for seven of the past eight years, told CBC News on Monday.

Bartholomeus said Conklin was well respected by many in the Yukon's Klondike region for his friendliness and his skills as a mechanic.

"Very interesting and very, very friendly person. Like, he loved to show you everything," he said.

"When I got there I was green and he'd teach everything from the ground up. And [he was] very calm, compared for somebody who worked with stuff that break all the time. It was unbelievable, that."

Bartholomeus said Conklin was an American who divided his time among the Yukon, Alaska and Phoenix, Ariz.

"I hang out with him some winters too in Phoenix. … I've been very, very close to him for the last seven years," he said.