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Events/Disaster · 1992

Westray mine explosion

Disaster, 9 May 1992, Canada.

What happened

At 5:20 am the Westray mine in Plymouth, Pictou County, exploded and killed the 26 miners underground. Justice Peter Richard led the public inquiry and described a story of incompetence and mismanagement.1,2

Why it matters

The inquiry report is titled A Predictable Path to Disaster.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Centralia mine fire starts

    Centralia mine fire starts.3

  2. Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act signed

    It set federal health and safety rules for coal mines.4,5

  3. South Bulli Colliery gas outburst

    The regulator uses it as a case study of gas outbursts at the coalface.6,7

  4. Gretley Colliery inrush

    The inquiry led to changes in how mine plans are checked in New South Wales.8,9

  5. Sago Mine disaster

    Sago Mine disaster. Wikidata records 12 deaths.10

  6. Upper Big Branch Mine disaster

    Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. Wikidata records 29 deaths.11

  7. Glencore completes merger with Xstrata

    The merger joined a large trading house with a large mining group.12,13

  8. Listvyazhnaya coal mine disaster, Russia

    Wikidata records 52 deaths.14

Open the full timeline

Where next

People

ExamplesHenry Skeffington PoolePoole lobbied over Nova Scotia deaths. Westray killed 26 there in 1992.15

Events

An example ofPike River coal mine explosionWestray killed 26 in 1992, and Pike River killed 29 in 2010. Both had public inquiries.1

Sources

  1. The Westray Story: A Predictable Path to Disaster, executive summary Government of Nova Scotia
  2. Westray Mine (item Q3314812), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Wikidata item Q16256909 (Centralia mine fire starts)
  4. Statement on signing the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (30 Dec 1969) American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara)
  5. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  6. 1991 South Bulli Colliery Outburst case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  7. Bulli (item Q4996904), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  8. 1996 Gretley Colliery Inrush case study (Learning from disasters) NSW Resources Regulator
  9. Newcastle (item Q57278), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  10. Wikidata item Q7399333 (Sago Mine disaster)
  11. Wikidata item Q7898494 (Upper Big Branch Mine disaster)
  12. Glencore timeline
  13. Baar (item Q64087), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  14. Wikidata item Q109735242 (Listvyazhnaya mine disaster)
  15. POOLE, HENRY SKEFFINGTON Dictionary of Canadian Biography

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; Haul trucks by Lechhabmed, CC BY-SA 4.0.