Inquest hears Vale worker refused work in area where 2 miners later died

A jury hearing testimony at a coroner's inquest in Sudbury has heard an employee working in Vale's Stobie Mine back in 2011 refused what he considered to be dangerous work.

The inquest is looking into the deaths of Jordan Fram and Jason Chenier, two miners who were buried in a run of sand, water and rock three years ago while investigating a clogged ore pass in the mine

On Wednesday, Derek Brosko, who had been working as a miner for 13 years at the time of the incident, said he never received an email from fellow miner Chenier warning of a water problem in the 37-15 ore pass. Evidence brought forward in the inquest on Tuesday included an e-mail from Chenier to his supervisors about a problem with water in the ore pass.

Brosko said he would have like to have known since he would later use that same ore pass to drop muck down to the next level.

He said he did notice water at the entrance to the ore pass, and a small amount running down the back of the pass, and knew that water was a hazard.

When his supervisor, Joe Oliveira, asked him to blast a blockage in that ore pass, Brosko refused.

He said he hadn't been trained to handle explosives, and as a result, was re-assigned to another part of the mine. The union questioned Brosko about whether the company ever investigated the work refusal under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and he said he didn't think so.

Brosko's refusal to work took place a week before Fram and Chenier died in a run of muck.

Oliveira has testified he did see the email from Chenier, urging him and fellow miners to deal with the water before using two ore passes that had been causing trouble.