Resource World Magazine

62 www.resourceworld.com D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5 e p i l o g u e D a v i d D u v a l M ost underground miners will tell you they'd prefer to work in hard rock mines rather than coal opera- tions. This is something I can easily relate to having spent about a decade in hard rock mining operations where, admittedly, I've seen the results of not only bad practices but just plain bad luck. Nonetheless, coal mines present unique problems which can only be mitigated by strict operating procedures along with adherence to enlightened and enforceable regulations that are sadly missing and/or not enforced in many countries. The recent coal mine disaster in Turkey speaks to the latter. Underground coal mining is, in my opinion, much like working in the barrel of a shotgun with some unknown person's finger on the trigger. Explosive gasses (methane) and fine coal dust, which acts like a deflagrating (slow burning) explo- sive when ignited accidentally, can have lethal consequences as we've seen so often. In Canada, Nova Scotia's Westray Mine disaster in 1992 resulted in 26 miners being killed because of a methane gas and subsequent coal dust explosion. It was Canada's worst mining disaster since 1958 when a cave-in at another Nova Scotia coal mine, in Springhill, claimed the lives of 75 miners. There are few things more heart wrenching than mine disasters where the fate of loved ones remains unknown for days if not weeks. A recent coal mining disaster in Turkey, where unscrupulous operators typically put profits over people, has seen 18 min- ers trapped 300 metres below surface, at a mine near the town of Ermenek in Karaman province. Media reports indicate that 20 workers have either been rescued or escaped on their own from the flooded mine, with little hope for those remaining. The country's energy minister reports that seven people have been detained in connection with the disaster, one of whom is the owner of the mine. Management apparently neglected to heed warnings from workers that an abandoned and flooded coal mine was only 50-60 metres away. Statistics show that over 3,000 people have been killed and over 100,000 injured since 1941 in mining accidents in Turkey; but it's doubtful these numbers take into account preventable medical conditions such as black lung disease which is directly related to worker exposure to environmen- tal hazards underground, namely coal dust. Unsafe working conditions and hazard- ous environmental conditions in mines are almost always two sides of the same coin. Turkey is estimated to have around 740 coal mines and 48,706 miners in the coun- try where accidents are the rule rather than the exception. Most of the coal min- ing operations in Turkey are undertaken by government-owned companies which make the high accident rate even more scandalous. Within a six-month period, mining accidents killed 301 Turkish mine- workers at the country's Soma coal mine and more recently 18 miners at the Has Sekerler coal mine. The Turkish Cabinet has sent a draft bill to Parliament to ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 176 on Safety in Mines after an effective lob- bying campaign by global and national unions together with strong public sup- port. However, it is still pending on the agenda of the nation's Parliament and its passage remains uncertain. So far, the con- vention has been ratified by 28 countries, including Canada, the US, Brazil, Russia, Armenia, Germany and even Zimbabwe. But Turkey has thus far failed to recognize the document. An education specialist from the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions said recently that they had failed in their attempts to have Ankara ratify the conven- tion, highlighting that employers – mostly private operators – always consider work safety a costly element. Turkey has large reserves of low grade lignite which has a low heat content and is overwhelmingly used for domestic power generation. After a decade of relying on power production from new gas-fired power stations fueled by imported natural gas – much of it from Russia at escalating prices and decreased delivery reliability – the Turkish government signaled its intent a few years ago to switch back to domestic coal. Major gas shortages, along with power cuts, were experienced by Turkey in 2012 when gas supplied from Iran and Azerbaijan was simultaneously cut due to technical problems. As gas prices track oil prices, the cost of Turkey's rapidly ris- ing imports of natural gas put pressure on the country's balance of payments. At the time, it was estimated that an extra $10 a barrel on the oil price added about $4 bil- lion a year to Turkey's import bill which has obviously become less of an issue with the recent decline in global oil prices. The Turkish government has announced plans to almost double its electricity pro- duction from coal generated power stations by 2018. With all the uncertainly con- cerning energy security in Europe other countries including Germany, are taking a hard look at increasing electrical energy from coal as well. The acceptance by Turkey of Convention 176 in mine safety is long overdue. n Turkish coal mining disaster demonstrates government indifference to health and safety of miners

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