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Events/Strike or conflict · 1992

Giant Mine strike explosion

Strike or conflict, 1992, Canada.

What happened

During a labour strike at Giant Mine in Yellowknife in 1992, a deliberately set explosion killed nine miners.1,2

Why it matters

The mine's later arsenic trioxide legacy made Giant a major remediation case.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Nixon ends dollar convertibility into gold

    Gold ceased to have a fixed dollar price.3,4

  2. Grasberg mine area: Wikidata inception date

    The Papua copper-gold mine is dated to 1972 in Wikidata.5

  3. Placer Dome founded

    Placer Dome founded.6

  4. Giant Mine strike explosion

    The mine's later arsenic trioxide legacy made Giant a major remediation case.1,2

  5. Vaal Reefs gold mine disaster, South Africa

    Wikidata records 104 deaths.7

  6. Giant Mine passes to the federal government

    The stored arsenic dust is the reason for the long-running remediation project.1,2,8

  7. Baia Mare cyanide spill

    A UNEP and OCHA mission reviewed it in February and March 2000.9,10

  8. Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped)

    Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped). Wikidata records 0 deaths.11

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

Located inGiant MineA deliberately set explosion during the strike killed nine miners.1

Places

Located inYellowknifeSee the nearby place: Yellowknife.1

Sources

  1. Giant Mine Historical Timeline Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
  2. Giant Mine (item Q1423887), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Nixon and the End of the Bretton Woods System, 1971-1973 US Department of State, Office of the Historian
  4. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. Wikidata item Q119297 (Grasberg Mine)
  6. Wikidata item Q3390766 (Placer Dome founded)
  7. Wikidata item Q119821776 (Vaal Reefs mining disaster)
  8. History of Giant Mine Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
  9. Cyanide Spill at Baia Mare, Romania: UNEP/OCHA Assessment Mission report UNEP / UN OCHA via ReliefWeb
  10. Baia Mare (item Q185280), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  11. Wikidata item Q214790 (Copiapo mining accident (33 miners trapped))

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0).