Mining Health Safety and Prevention Review recommendations closer to becoming law

The first recommendations from the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention review are under final consultation before becoming law.

Labour Minister Kevin Flynn says three proposals will go through a 45-day public review — and is the last chance for the public to provide input.

They deal with stiffer requirements for water management, new regulations for guiding traffic and updated training for diamond drill operations.

The consultation was announced this week, just as Goldcorp released news that a scoop operator had been killed at its Musselwhite mine.

"We don't want to rest on our laurels and it's incidents like we've seen at the Musselwhite mine that tell us there's always more to be done here," Flynn said.

"You know, until we get to zero we're going to work away at this."

The recommendation to strengthen existing requirements for water management came to light after two miners were buried in a run of water, mud and rock at the Stobie Mine in Sudbury in 2011.

Flynn said the remaining review recommendations will follow next year.

But this will not be the end.

"I think that everybody thinks that the mining review was a huge step forward, is going to make improvements, but there will be more work to do after the mining review as well, I'm sure," Flynn said.

"This is a continuous improvement, I think, in all areas of health and safety including mining."

The proposals can be found online. The public comment period ends Jan. 15.