Dealdy Blast at K+S Mine Could Close Mine for Weeks

Reuters reported that three workers are dead at a German potash mine operated by K+S after a controlled explosion triggered a blowout of CO2. The company may have to close the mine for day, even weeks to fan the gas out of the mine and complete investigations.

According to the report,

The deadly blast happened on Tuesday after a controlled explosion at the mine in the German state of Thueringia caused a blowout of CO2, which occurs naturally in the salt rock.

It may take “from days to a few weeks” to fan the gas out of the mine and for mining authorities and public prosecutors to complete their investigations, Chief Executive Norbert Steiner told Reuters.

A a news conference on Wednesday, Rainer Gerling, manager of the mine, said:

Our safety procedures will of course have to be reassessed based on the findings but we can’t say anything specific until the investigations are concluded.

K+S has procedures in place that had been regarded as absolutely safe from decades of experience. But we had never before seen the dimensions of what happened yesterday.

Click here to read the full report.