Potash Miners Trapped in Agrium Mine Now Safe

Mineweb reported that 54 miners who had to spend the night in emergency shelters at Agrium Inc.’s (TSX:AGU,NYSE:AGU) Saskatchewan-based Vanscoy potash mine have made it out safely. They were trapped underground by a fire.

As quoted in the market news:

General Manager, Mike Dirham, told CBC News that the fire started on a scoop tram. While the tram had a fire suppression system, it could not extinguish all the flames forcing the miners to head for shelters to escape the smoke.

The individual shelters hold 10 people to 60 people each and contain food, water and telephones. Dirham said an emergency response team put the fire out.

The mine was then ventilated to clear the smoke, but the miners still had to wait several more hours until the air was considered safe to permit emergency crews to escort everyone to the surface.

All of the workers had been brought to the surface by Saturday afternoon and there were no injuries.

Click here to read the full Mineweb report.