Westray Coal Mine Disaster

Pictou County, Nova Scotia

At 5:20 am on 9 May 1992
the Westray coal mine exploded
killing 26 miners

In recognition of the grieving families and in commemoration of the 26 miners who were killed in the Westray coal mine disaster, we will remember them:

John Thomas Bates
Larry Arthur Bell
Bennie Joseph Benoit
Wayne Michael Conway
Ferris Todd Dewan
Adonis Joseph Dollimont
Robert Steven Doyle
Remi Joseph Drolet
Roy Edward Feltmate
Charles Robert Fraser
Myles Daniel Gillis
John Philip Halloran
Randolph Brian House
Trevor Martin Jahn
Laurence Elwyn James
Eugene William Johnson
Stephen Paul Lilley
Michael Frederick MacKay
Angus Joseph MacNeil
Glenn David Martin
Harry Alliston McCallum
Eric Earl McIssac
George James Munroe
Danny James Poplar
Romeo Andrew Short
Peter Francis Vickers

We will remember them.

The Westray Memorial Park
The Westray Families Group (a non-profit organization) was formed soon after the explosion to provide support to the families of the men killed in the Westray Disaster. In 1993, the Families Group erected a memorial to the late miners in Parkdale on a section of land in the approximate location of the underground explosion.The Monument and Park is solely maintained by donations and volunteers...

Westray Mine Disaster Memorial

Westray Mine Public Inquiry online transcript

Risk Awareness and Risk Acceptance at the Westray Coal Mine April 1997
An attempt to understand miners' perceptions, motivations and actions prior to the accident

The Westray Mine Explosion: An Examination of the Interaction Between the Mine Owner and the Media
Canadian Journal of Communication, Volume 21, Number 3, Autumn 1996

Corporate Criminal Responsibility and the Westray Mine Disaster
Background Notes
Westray was an underground coal mine in Stellarton, near New Glasgow, Pictou County, Nova Scotia that blew up on May 9, 1992 killing all 26 people working in the mine instantaneously. Westray was a corporation wholly owned by Curragh Resources, a company controlled by Clifford Frame and based in Ontario. The development of the mine in Stellarton received considerable political support from the provincial and federal government despite the opposition of technical experts and despite the history of mining fatalities in the area. Local historian James Cameron estimates that 576 deaths occurred between 1866 and 1972 in mining in Pictou County and that 625-650 died "from colliery misadventures in Pictou County" since the industry's debut in the early 1800s. The Federal MP for Pictou County was Brian Mulroney, later Prime Minister of Canada and the Provincial MLA was Donald Cameron, then Minister of Industry and subsequently Premier of the province ... What has been done about the recommendations of the Westray Inquiry? The Nova Scotia government hired a consultant, Ian Plummer, a former Inspector of Mines of Ontario, to review the activities of the Ministry of Labour. Plummer's report was released with no substantive recommendations to improve health and safety of workers in the province. Instead, he hides behind bureaucratic reorganization of the department without any consideration of the lack of effectiveness in protecting workers' lives. Ian Plummer, as a mines inspector, sat on the panel of industry experts which awarded Westray the mining industry's J.T. Ryan Award for Safety as the safest coal mine in Canada in 1991, 11 days prior to the explosion that killed 26 men ...

1997

Hansard, 1997 May 9, page 1594 Premier John Savage
RESOLUTION NO. 421
Be it resolved that on this, the 5th Anniversary of the Westray Mine disaster, that this House pledge to Nova Scotians and particularly to the Westray families that we will work together in a unified manner to ensure the continued development and enforcement of laws and regulations to ensure the safety of all miners in this province.
Hansard, 1997 May 9, page 1595 Mr. Wayne Fraser
RESOLUTION NO. 422
Be it resolved that all members of this House of Assembly pay tribute to the rescuers for their compassion, unwavering professionalism and steadfast courage and extend sincere condolences to the family and friends of the miners left behind to suffer the grief and pain of this tragic loss.
Hansard, 1997 May 9, page 1596 Dr. John Hamm
RESOLUTION NO. 423
Be it resolved that the members of this House join with the families and friends in remembering the 26 lost Westray miners.
Hansard, 1997 May 9, page 1596 Mr. Robert Chisholm
RESOLUTION NO. 424
Be it resolved that this House commends the Families Group and others who keep alive the memories of the Westray miners, and on this 5th Anniversary commits to the strongest possible legislation and the most vigilant enforcement of workplace safety legislation.
Hansard, 1997 December 2 Mr. Darrel Stinson (Okanagan–Shuswap, Reform)
Mr. Speaker, the first duty of any government is to protect its law-abiding citizens. Instead neither the province nor the federal government made sure that the men who went underground to mine coal at Westray came home safely each day. According to the book The Westray Tragedy, CANMET recommended a more in-depth evaluation of the project. Over one hundred men previously killed in the Foord coal seam should have been reason enough for governments to be extra cautious about Westray. So why did the federal government suddenly give its stamp of approval through loan guarantees? If the federal government had no worry for the safety of citizens working at Westray, why did it not even ensure that its investments could be recovered through long term safe and profitable operation of the Westray mine? The report released yesterday reveals a chain of obvious preventable safety problems. As project financier, Ottawa must share the blame for turning the federally assisted job project into a tomb, a mine so unsafe that eleven bodies have yet to be recovered, and a whole region in Nova Scotia remains in mourning.

1996

Hansard, 1996 May 9, page 1551 Premier John Savage
RESOLUTION NO. 505
Be it resolved that in memory of the 26 men so tragically lost, the members of this House stand and observe a moment of silence.
Hansard, 1996 May 9, page 1552 Dr. John Hamm
RESOLUTION NO. 506
Be it resolved that the members of the House join with the families and friends of the victims in remembering them.
Hansard, 1996 May 9, page 1553 Mr. John Holm
RESOLUTION NO. 507
Be it resolved that on this tragic anniversary the members of this House honour the memory of Westray miners by committing to the strongest possible legislation and enforcement of workplace safety.
Hansard, 1996 May 9, page 1553 Mr. Wayne Fraser
RESOLUTION NO. 508
Be it resolved that the members of this Assembly keep foremost in their minds and hearts the tremendous grief and pain suffered by the families and friends of these courageous men.

Hansard, 1996 May 9, page 2557 Ms. Roseanne Skoke (Central Nova, Liberal)
Mr. Speaker, in recognition of the grieving families and in commemoration of the 26 deceased miners who were killed... in the Westray coal mine disaster on May 9, 1992...
Hansard, 1996 May 9, page 2557 Mrs. Diane Ablonczy (Calgary North, Reform)
Mr. Speaker, four years ago today 26 miners died at the Westray mine in Nova Scotia when coal dust ignited with methane gas to produce an underground explosion...

Westray Mine Public Inquiry Commission
Stellarton, Nova Scotia

3 days Preliminary, 12 & 13 July 1995 and 4 October 1995.
77 days In Session, from 6 November 1995 to 22 July 1996.

Mr. Justice K. Peter Richard, Commissioner
John P. Merrick, Q.C., Commission Counsel
Jocelyn M. Campbell, Associate Commission Counsel
Deirdre Williams-Cooper, Chief Administrator

Westray Coal Mine Public Inquiry Report, issued 1 December 1997
Westray Coal Mine Public Inquiry Report, Contents
Westray Coal Mine Public Inquiry Report, Executive Summary
Westray Coal Mine Public Inquiry Report, In Conclusion
Westray Coal Mine Public Inquiry Report, Consolidated Findings
Westray Coal Mine Public Inquiry Report, Consolidated Recommendations

A Westray Coal Mine Public Inquiry Chronology
was available in 1998 at
http://www.gov.ns.ca/labr/westray/about.htm
but for some reason has since been removed
from the Government website.

"Clippings" about the
The Westray Coal Mine Disaster

Westray Investigation Was Botched, Former Prosecutor Argues in Memo
The Ottawa Citizen 17 December 1998
Charges were laid after the Westray mine explosion without a thorough investigation, and police and prosecutors were wrong to target two mine managers for blame, internal Crown documents have revealed. The damning conclusions are contained in a report prepared more than a year ago by Crown attorney Robert Hagell, who asked to be reassigned after concluding the prosecution was unfair and doomed to failure...

Crown Stays Charges Against Westray Managers 30 June 1998
Relatives of the victims of the Westray disaster erupted in tears when Nova Scotia prosecutors announced they were staying charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence against two Westray mine managers ... The announcement was delayed until hours before major holiday...

Mine Safety Award Rescinded
The Montreal Gazette 5 May 1998
Company officials fudged accident statistics ... Management was derelict in its duty...

Official Fired Over Westray by Dean Jobb
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 21 April 1998
Fourth government employee to lose his job in the aftermath of the Westray disaster...

More Workplace Inspectors Needed by Dean Jobb
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 17 April 1998
Plummer Report raises concerns about inadequacies in inspection and enforcement ... Government should hire more workplace inspectors and improve training ... Labour Minister promises sufficient resources and staff to deal with all the safety concerns...

Westray Monument Powerful Reminder by Peter Duffy
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 19, 21 February 1998
This spot is half-way between where they found most of the bodies and where the rest are supposed to be, about 350 metres below us. "Ah yes," I mumble. "I'd forgotten that they never did get them all up." He nods. Twenty-six killed, eleven bodies still down there...

Ex-Westray Employees Block Site
The Halifax Daily News, 10 February 1998
Contractor prevented from starting work on dismantling the Westray Mine surface structures ... The province has ruled 117 former unionized miners are eligible for 12 weeks' severance pay. But 40 non-unionized workers missed the deadline to file a claim. Those workers said that's because they weren't aware of their rights at the time and had no one to represent them...

23 January 1998 – Twenty-five large boxes of documents and exhibits from the now-disbanded Westray Public Inquiry Commission have been delivered to the library at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, the university library closest to the site of the Westray coal mine.

Engineers' Fate to be Known Soon by Dean Jobb,
The Chronicle-Herald 22 January 1998
Three senior government engineers suspended with pay in the wake of the Westray inquiry report ... Coopers and Lybrand conducting a review and will recommend what action, if any, should be taken...

Gold Mine Layoffs Blamed on Westray-Related Firings by Steve Proctor,
The Chronicle-Herald 22 January 1998
Department of Natural Resources and Labor in turmoil ... No one left in the Department with the expertise to approve any kind of mining permit ... "I don't even know who our inspector is now"...

Westray Silos to Come Down
The Globe and Mail, 21 January 1998
Westray mine's highly visible tall blue coal silos will be demolished ... Mine entrance to be sealed ... $847,770 to All Steel Coatings Ltd., Port Hastings ... Work begins immediately...

Mine Collapse Revives Westray Memories by Sherri Borden,
The Chronicle-Herald 19 January 1998
Miner left work an hour before the roof fell ... Former Westray coal miner says the cave-in made him think seriously about the nature of his work ...

Still Failing the Westray Miners
Editorial in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 13 January 1998
The Cabinet scurried into hiding behind its lawyers' skirts ... They decided to nickel-and-dime former Westray miners ... As far as the vague concern that this settlement would expose the province to future pressure in run-of-the-mill bankruptcies where it ends up with the assets, we don't believe it ... Don Downe's apology was a painstakingly lawyered absurdity...

Government Won't Advance Severance
The Globe and Mail, 9 January 1998
Cabinet decision ... Workers must wait until the bankrupt mine's assets are sold ... There was a danger of setting a precedent ... Disgusting, really disgusting...

Severance Issue Before Cabinet by Dean Jobb,
The Chronicle-Herald, 8 January 1998
Cabinet will consider the union's request that the money be paid up front, with the government recovering the payment once the assets are sold ... A second group of geologists, engineers, foremen, secretaries and other non-union workers is seeking the same treatment...

Equal Treatment
Editorial in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 6 January 1998
The province has just found another wrong to right ... Common decency and downright fairness demand all ex-Westray employees be treated equally...

Putting Substance in Sorry
Editorial in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 2 January 1998
They should not have to wait any longer ... Government negligence in this tragedy was second only to the company's ... The government has continued, shamefully, to dodge the ultimate responsibility...

Nova Scotia Urged to do Right...
The Calgary Herald, 31 December 1997
"Inescapable conclusion" that Westray management could, and should, have prevented the disaster ... With Curragh bankrupt, the award will have to be satisfied from sale of assets, including unused mining machines estimated to be worth several million dollars ... The province, which holds title to the Westray coal mine site, is under pressure to pay the money up front and recover it once the assets are sold...

Westray Miners Awarded Severance by Kevin Cox,
The Globe and Mail, 31 December 1997
Miner who complained about unsafe working conditions at Westray was insulted, reprimanded, demoted, and ultimately suspended ... The Nova Scotia government has acknowledged that it failed to ensure that the mine was a safe place to work...

Pay up, Westray Miners Say by Rachel Boomer & David Rodenhiser,
The Halifax Daily News, 31 December 1997

Westray Father Glad Mine to Disappear
The Halifax Sunday Daily News, 21 December 1997
The province will clean up the mine ... It will dismantle Westray's blue silos, plant grass and turn over the property to the community...

Westray Severance Closer to Reality
The Calgary Herald, 20 December 1997
One never-used mining machine, worth millions of dollars, has been sitting in a warehouse for over five years ... The judge concluded Westray management had been derelict in its duty to operate the mine safely...

For Leaders, Not Lawyers
Editorial in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 20 December 1997
This government hasn't figured out what is the right thing to do ... weasel words ... slippery dodge ... government negligence, lassitude and incompetence did play a key role ... If this isn't liability, what is? If this catalogue of failures doesn't create a responsibility to compensate victims' families, then what conceivable act of negligence could we hold our government accountable for? How bad would it have to get?...

High Officials Must Answer, Too... by Cathy Nicoll,
The Halifax Daily News, 19 December 1997
No politician, no senior officials are being held accountable ... Unfair to only hold lower echelon officials responsible for what was a systemic failure ... More than 92 lawsuits in progress against the Province of Nova Scotia...

Officials Fired in Westray Disaster by Graeme Hamilton,
The Ottawa Citizen, 19 December 1997
Nova Scotia government actions range from the symbolic demolition of the coal mine silos to the firing of two mine inspectors accused of incompetence ... Miner's widow disappointed by the "government's intransigence" ... "Empty apology" ... No plan to recover eleven bodies still in the mine ...

Nova Scotia to Act on Westray Report by Stephen Thorne,
The Vancouver Province, 19 December 1997
Ministerial performance bordered on the unethical ... Albert McLean and Claude White fired without severance pay but may keep their pensions ... Dead miners' families express suspicions about the Minister's carefully chosen words ... Will sue ... "What they said in the meeting at the hotel (Thursday) morning is quite different from what the man said in front of us here"...

Government Response to Westray Inquiry Report Cabinet Minister Don Downe.
18 December 1997
The entire system of the day failed the miners, their families and all Nova Scotians on May 9, 1992. On behalf of the province, I apologize for any role government may have played. We are deeply sorry for the Westray disaster. It never should have happened...

The Larger Lessons of Westray by Ralph Surette.
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 12 December 1997
Interference for partisan purposes, promotions based on politics not merit, the rules being bent for political reasons ... the very picture of bureaucracy at its worst. Inspectors were untrained for their task, largely ignorant of the laws they were supposed to uphold, and basically reduced to flunkies of the company they were supposed to inspect...

Westray Commissioner Takes Parting Shot At Frame by Kevin Cox.
The Globe and Mail, 9 December 1997
An uncompromising and abusive negotiator ... the story of the mine was a complex mosaic of actions, omissions, mistakes, incompetence, apathy, cynicism, stupidity, and neglect...

...And the Mine Blew Up by Parker Barss-Donham.
The Halifax Sunday Daily News, 7 December 1997
In his "abrasive and abusive" campaign to wheedle government cash for a project too risky to entrust with his own money, his tolerance of bully tactics against miners who voiced fear for their safety, his foul appearance at the funeral, his attempt to hold widows and orphans hostage to a lucrative surface coal concession, and his contempt for the Inquiry Commission's authority, Clifford Frame personifies the evil man can visit upon fellow man...

Westray Exposed Government's Shortcomings by Karen Janigan,
The Halifax Sunday Daily News, 7 December 1997
Nova Scotia government bureaucrats ignored warnings, disregarded laws, altered official meeting minutes, and turned a blind eye to illegal practices ... Most damning example is John Mullally, the former deputy minister of Natural Resources appointed a year before the explosion ... The deputy minister of natural resources did not consider it important to be familiar with the relevant legislation...

Never Let the Risks Outweigh the Benefits by Peter Lesniak.
Editorial in the Yukon News, 5 December 1997
We must do everything we can to ensure that never again is there another mining disaster in Canada like Westray ... Equally culpable were the company bosses and government bureaucrats who turned a blind eye to the many problems at the mine...

Two Inquiries Reveal Two Approaches
Editorial in The Toronto Star, 5 December 1997
One report bristled with righteous anger, the other was cautious and plodding ... Voicing the nation's outrage ... A courageous commissioner can hold individuals who betray the public trust to account in clear, unequivocal language ...

Killer Coal Lies in Wait
Commentary by Bob MacDonald in the Calgary Sun, 4 December 1997
The dreaded explosion was no surprise to retired miners, but seemed surprising to Curragh boss Clifford Frame and his management team ... Humans have a way of burying mistakes when there's a dollar to be made. The Foord seam death count stands at 176. How long will it be before someone else comes along and declares they have a foolproof way to safely mine it?

Other Provinces Urged to Learn from Mine Tragedy by Graeme Hamilton
The Edmonton Journal, 3 December 1997
His supervisor told him to get rid of his safety glasses because there was no room for the safety-conscious on his crew. When he complained of dangerous conditions, he was told the company had thousands of applications from men ready to replace him ... Flagrant disregard for safety...

Westray Blame Has Been Placed Where it Belongs
Editorial in the Fredericton Daily Gleaner, 3 December 1997
[I have not been able to locate this text.]

Stupidity Blew Up Westray, Judge Says by Kevin Cox,
The Globe and Mail, 2 December 1997
Mine managers were aware that an explosive environment was building at the mine in the days before the blast, yet were so intent on producing coal that they ignored the increasing concentrations of methane and the thick layers of coal dust...

Westray's Grim Truth
Editorial in The Toronto Star, 2 December 1997
Incompetence, mismanagement, bureaucratic bungling, deceit, ruthlessness, cover-up, apathy, expediency, and cynical indifference ... No one in authority could be bothered to prevent it ... No one cared ... Like something out of a medieval novel ... That this should occur, in Canada, in the 1990s, is hard to believe...

Bureaucats, Bosses Blamed for Mine Deaths by Graeme Hamilton,
The Ottawa Citizen, 2 December 1997
Bureaucratic bungling, deceit, ruthlessness, coverup, apathy ... It's like the blood inquiry and the Somalia inquiry, when they get close to the scum at the top, it seems to all fade away...

Human Error Blamed for Mine Disaster
The Toronto Star, 2 December 1997
Clifford Frame ultimately responsible ... Bureaucracy infested with apathy and complacence ... Serenely uninformed ... Wilfully blind ... Cynically self-serving ... Don Downe chose his words carefully while the families of the dead miners listened...

Westray "Deceit", Deadly Mine Blast Preventable by Graeme Hamilton,
The Montreal Gazette, 2 December 1997
A deadly mix of corporate ruthlessness and regulatory incompetence ... unfathomable disregard for workers' safety ... "cavalier attitude" of mine management...

Westray Report Blasts All
The Vancouver Province, 2 December 1997
Only the serenely uninformed, the wilfully blind, or the cynically self-serving could be satisfied with such an explanation ... management failed, the inspectorate failed and the mine blew up...

Westray Disaster Will be Repeated if Inquiry Lessons Are Not Acted On
United Steelworkers Union, 2 December 1997
Every aspect of this completely-preventable disaster has been documented by the Inquiry ... The Inquiry report condemns individuals, the company and the government for deliberately putting workers' lives at risk for the sake of profit ... But the report will amount to nothing if its lessons are not learned...

After the Westray Explosion: A Brief Chronology of Events
The Halifax Daily News, 2 December 1997

Moral Leadership: Facing Canada's Leadership Crisis by Robert Evans,
24 November 1997
Leadership gone rotten ... Westray, Somalia, Tainted blood, Bre-X, Airbus ... tragedy, duplicity, and moral failing in high places...

Ex-Westray Chief Fails in Bid for Comeback by Paul McKay
The Ottawa Citizen, 12 September 1997
Greenfields shareholders reject takeover proposal ... Votes accompanied by jeers, epithets, heckling ... Shaky finances could spell the end of Clifford Frame's first public company since the parent company of Westray Coal went bankrupt in 1993...
    #   Ex-Westray Chief Fails in Bid for Comeback
    #   1997: Mineral Resources Corporation Chairman C.H. Frame
    #   1998: Minroc Mines Incorporated Chairman C.H. Frame
    #   1999: Cassiar Mines & Metals Incorporated Chairman C.H. Frame

To Westray and Beyond by Paul McKay.
The Ottawa Citizen, 8 September 1997
Paul McKay tells the story of Clifford Frame, who wants to put Westray behind him and get back in business...
Mr. McKay's article is archived at http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/970908/1139242.html

Westray Boss Back in Business by Paul McKay
The Ottawa Citizen, 8 September 1997
Clifford Frame is trying to get back in the coal business, sixty-four months after an underground explosion killed 26 Nova Scotia miners and left his defunct company facing manslaughter and criminal negligence charges...
Mr. McKay's article is archived at http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/970908/1139101.html

No More Westrays
United Steelworkers Union, 27 August 1997
Five years later, questions still unanswered, families still grieving ... Ultra-conservative columnist Diane Francis criticized the CBC for its "overkill coverage of a relatively insignificant inquiry – into the Westray Mines tragedy" ... Francis also went on to describe the inquiry as a "nationally-inconsequential" event...

Bay Street Wary of Frame by Richard Mostyn.
The Yukon News, 22 January 1997
Bay Street investors are wary of base-metal mining guru Clifford Frame ... Is Frame the guy you're prepared to lend money to? ... More adept at mining governments than ore bodies...

New Workplace Rules Aim to Protect Workers by Michelle Walters,
NovaNewsNet, 15 January 1997
Four-and-a-half years after one of the worst workplace disasters in Nova Scotia history, the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act has bben revised. Based on more than three years of review, the new Act improves three basic rights: the right to know, the right to refuse unsafe work, and the right to participate in workplace health and safety issues...

Gaining Access to the Westray Inquiry by Michelle Walters,
NovaNewsNet, 29 October 1996
What does it mean for a document to be "public", if the cost is so high that nobody can afford it? ... The Westray Public Inquiry transcript sells for $2900.76 per copy, and the Westray Criminal Trial transcript goes for $1931.71 a copy...

Government Lawyer Admits Province Bears Some Blame by Beverley Ware,
The Ottawa Citizen, 23 July 1996
It was the first time in eight months of hearings that anyone employed by the province has accepted blame for the 1992 disaster ... Reinhold Endres' comments too little, too late...

Researchers Criticize Westray Mine Safety by Amanda Leslie-Spinks.
The Gazette, (The University of Calgary's faculty and staff weekly newspaper)
Date not known.
A network of financial and political forces pushing managers to value production results over safety rules ... Bank of Nova Scotia linked financing to production data ... Government funding depended on a commitment to the Nova Scotia Power Corporation to produce a certain number of tons of coal per year ... Criminal and regulatory proceedings exclude evidence about financial, political and cultural factors ... Rules of admissibility of evidence filter out essential information...

The Politics of Coal by Dalton Camp
The Hill Times, 10 June 1996
Horse-trading and hornswoggling ... Subsidy, soot, grime, black dust, and danger ... Roiling seas of ambition, self-interest, and conflicted purpose ... A parade of witnesses, all well-meaning and each blameless. One of them has blamed the dead...

From the Start, the Westray Mine Was a Disaster Waiting to Happen
Maclean's 15 July 1996
Shaun Comish pulled on his draegerman's gear and headed back down the Westray mine, where four days before he had been working the day shift. He remembers the equipment wreckage, blown all over the place, and two bodies, burned so black that in the dark, in the coal and the rubble, the rescue workers did not see them until they were literally underfoot. He remembers placing Larry James's charred remains in a fluorescent orange body bag...

Westray Inquiry Confronts Some Artful Dodgers by Jim Meek
The Chronicle-Herald, 31 May1996
John Buchanan has made avuncular blandness into an art form ... Buchanan and Cameron both refused to take any blame for the tragedy that killed 26 men ... Buchanan was more adept than Cameron at getting this message across. Instead of enraging everyone, like Donald, John put 'em all to sleep ... He showed a remarkable grasp of trivial detail...

Allen Martin
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, "The National - Almanac", 10 May1996
A very painful week ... Many families say this was the hardest week yet at the inquiry: hearing a top mine inspector deny responsibility ... Hopefully, somehow, we can make a difference, so that nobody else goes through this kind of damn foolishness...

Coal, Politics...and Don Cameron's Pal by Jim Meek
The Chronicle-Herald, 2 February 1996
Just another snorter at the trough ... There was no bloody way Don Downe was going to give a strip mine contract to any friend of Donald Cameron, much less one linked with Westray ... Suppressed information...

Westray Disaster Had Deep Roots by Parker Barss-Donham
The Halifax Sunday Daily News, 16 July 1995
Just when the Westray fiasco seemed to have reached a low ebb, the moral tide dropped a few more feet last week ... Halifax and Ottawa both obstructing the quest for truth ... A promoter who made his career flattering gullible politicians and mining government grants...

Wins Award for Bravery at Westray by Cathy Hallessey
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, February 1995
Each of the 177 men to receive medals were called one at a time ... Some faces beamed with pride, others were close to tears. This honour makes them part of the largest group in the history of the Honours System to be awarded bravery decorations for a single incident ... After five long days and nights, their efforts were in vain. None of the trapped miners survived...

Curragh Files for Court Protection 20 March 1993
Curragh, the Canadian lead and zinc producer, yesterday filed for court protection from its creditors after failing to overcome a succession of financial and operating setbacks ... Curragh's problems have been compounded by the closure of its Westray coal mine in Nova Scotia since an explosion there last May killed 26 miners...

Books About the Westray Coal Mine

The Westray Chronicles: A Case Study of an Occupational Disaster
edited by Chris McCormick, 250 pages, June 1998
ISBN 1895686326, Fernwood Publishing Co. Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia
http://home.istar.ca/~fernwood/lab.html
http://www.wdn.com/yellowdog/fern-lab.html

The Westray Tragedy: A Miner's Story
by Shaun Comish, 82 pages
ISBN 1895686261, Fernwood Publishing Co. Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia
http://home.istar.ca/~fernwood/lab.html
http://www.wdn.com/yellowdog/fern-lab.html Transcript of Shaun Comish's testimony before the Westray Public Inquiry Commission 7 February 1996

Calculated Risk: Greed, Politics and the Westray Tragedy
by Dean Jobb, 1994, Nimbus, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Statements in the Legislature, as reported in Hansard, 1 December 1997
Re the Report of the Westray Public Inquiry Commission:

Hon. Don Downe,
Minister of Transportation and Public Works

Dr. John Hamm,
Leader of the Opposition

Mr. Robert Chisholm,
Leader of the New Democratic Party

[ Government press release # 120102, 1 December 1997, 11:10 am]
Premier's Office
Westray Response Committee
List of Committee Members

The province is committed to a timely evaluation and response on the Westray inquiry report released in Stellarton today, Dec. 1, by Justice Peter Richard. Premier Russell MacLellan today announced the establishment of a cabinet committee to respond to the report and recommendations of the Westray mine public inquiry. "The Westray report is a priority with this government," said the premier. "We are committed to a thorough and thoughtful review and response." The committee is chaired by Don Downe, Minister of Transportation and Public Works, and includes Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Guy Brown, Justice Minister Alan Mitchell, Labour Minister Gerald O'Malley and Natural Resources Minister Ken MacAskill.

Mr. Downe was in Stellarton to receive the report on behalf of government. "We owe it to the families, the miners and all Nova Scotians to provide answers and take action very quickly," said Mr. Downe. "We will give the issues serious attention and serious review." He indicated that a preliminary plan for dealing with the report's recommendations will be announced before Christmas. In May 1992, 26 miners were killed in an explosion at the Westray coal mine, operated by Curragh Resources Inc. of Toronto. The government of then-premier Donald Cameron commissioned the Westray inquiry to examine the cause of the disaster and make recommendations.

Contacts:
Peter MacLellan, Office of the Premier
902-424-3750, e-mail: macleldp@gov.ns.ca
Jennifer MacIsaac, 902-424-3219, e-mail: macisaja@gov.ns.ca

[ Government press release # 120107, 1 December 1997, 8:25 pm]
Department of Transportation & Public Works
Westray Response Committee

Note to Editors: The following are remarks made tonight by Don Downe, chair of the Westray Response Committee, in the House of Assembly.

Mr. Speaker: Tonight I'd like to speak to this House and to all Nova Scotians as minister responsible for government's response to the Westray report. At 5:20 on the morning of May 9, 1992, this province was rocked by one of the worst tragedies in its history – the Westray mine disaster. That morning this province lost 26 coal miners. Twenty-six families were left without loved ones. And thousands of Nova Scotians shared in their pain and sadness. Five years later, the memory and sadness of that day remain with us all, most especially with the families.

But today also marks one of the first steps toward understanding this senseless tragedy. Today, at 11 a.m. in Stellarton, Justice Peter Richard released his report into the Westray mine disaster. The Commissioner's report is extensive, with more than 700 pages and four volumes of information. While we are just beginning to work our way through it, the overwhelming impression is that the report is thoughtful and thorough. I would like to thank Justice Richard and his staff for their hard work and dedication in the face of great challenge and complexity. This report will make a real difference in the lives of working men and women in this province. This government will see that it does.

I would also like to thank the families. They have been the ones fighting to be heard, fighting to keep the memory of Westray alive, fighting to make a difference. The families have been through hell and back. And while I can never fully understand their pain, I do understand their conviction. I have sat in the same room and seen it face to face.

Earlier today, the premier established a cabinet committee consisting of the ministers of Labour, Natural Resources, Justice and Housing and Municipal Affairs. Westray will be given high priority. This is not a report we will put on the shelf. This is a report we will carry with us until all the issues are addressed. We owe it the families. We owe it to the memory of the 26 miners. This government will respond with an initial plan of action prior to Christmas. We have a lot of ground to cover and many decisions to make, but we are committed to a timely response. The Westray families have waited long enough. This government will do the right thing. We will make this province a safer place for people to earn a living and raise their families. This morning, I took a few minutes to visit the Westray memorial in Stellarton, and I read the names of the 26 men once more. We can never allow another Westray. People do not go to work to die. Unfortunately, this government cannot change the past. I wish we could. But we can make a difference in the future.

In closing, I make this pledge to the families: Westray will not be some vague memory of a tragic accident. It will be a living active presence in workplaces across Nova Scotia. Your husbands, your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your friends will never be forgotten. Every time someone wants to cut corners or bend the rules, we will remind them. There can never be another Westray. This government will not allow it. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Contact: Jennifer MacIsaac, 902-424-3219, e-mail: macisaja@gov.ns.ca

[December 1997]
Note to Editors: The executive summary of the Westray inquiry report can be found on the Internet at www.gov.ns.ca/legi/inquiry/westray/findings.htm.

[November 1999]
Note to Viewers: The executive summary of the Westray inquiry report is now on the Internet at http://www.gov.ns.ca/labr/westray/contents.htm.

[The Daily News, Halifax, Saturday, December 6, 1997]

Prosecute Westray 'cowards, tricksters,'
Hotline callers say
 By STEPHEN BORNAIS – Daily News Hotline

The Crown should pursue charges against those directly responsible for the Westray mine disaster, say respondents to The Daily News Hotline. But that opinion won by the narrowest of margins, backed by only 11 of the 21 callers and e-mailers. The Hotline asked if the criminal justice system should be pushed to continue with charges against mine managers, a process that could take years – and many millions of dollars.

Regular e-mailer Edward Watt said the process must continue, but he acknowledged the difficulties it will face. "Even if criminal charges are brought against these liars, cowards and tricksters, it will unfortunately take years to even come to trial where this will be tantamount to winning a lottery 6/49 for lawyers," he wrote.

"So what if it takes years?" said Lilly Snow from Beaver Bank, while Judith Mason in Bedford said someone must speak for those who can no longer. "Don't you think it's time someone was accountable for this?" she said.

Old union man Donald Waye of Dartmouth said the people directly responsible for the mine are still at large. "The Crown should stand its ground and bring those people back for questioning," he said.

To do otherwise, a woman said, would be a "a waste of those men's lives and waste of the efforts of the inquiry."

But to Lloyd Zwicker, of Windsor, the waste would be in the continuation of a lost cause. "We've wasted enough taxpayers dollars, millions and millions of dollars wasted on something a 10-year-old kid could have told us," he said. The money would be better spent on keeping hospital beds open, he added.

Another caller said Westray was a tragic event, but it was time to put it to rest. One woman doubted the strength of the case that could be prepared against the mine managers. "If there was any concrete evidence those men were to blame they would have been charged a long time ago, believe me," she said.

A Hotline regular said there plenty of blame for everyone involved with Westray. "Unless you're going to charge everyone responsible you can't charge anyone, otherwise you're just picking your defendants," he said.

The miners themselves should have been aware of the risks they were running, a man said. "Any man that goes underground in Nova Scotia and anywhere in the world knows he's taking his life in his hands."

Do Canadian Corporations Now Have a Licence to Kill? by Allen Martin.
...On the eve of our national holiday, Canada Day, July 1, 1998, government prosecutors have announced that the Westray managers, Phillips and Parry, will no longer have to face criminal prosecution for their role in the death of 26 men on May 6, 1992. Despite the public testimony, and the two volumes of documentation of mismanagement, violations of safety regulations and practices, and failure to protect the safety of the workers from the Public Inquiry into the Westray Explosion, this is not enough to prove a crime by a corporate manager, according to the Crown Attorney in charge. Mr.. Justice Richards was very careful in his report to describe the behaviour of the Westray managers as "willful blindness" towards what was happening and the tragic consequences that could and did result. "Willful blindness" is a standard of proof sufficient to convict you or I of any crime, but not, so it seems, managers and CEO's. The behaviour of the office of the Crown Attorney from the beginning has been nothing more than a cover-up and a screw up. The Supreme Court of Canada had to order them back to trial! Judges at all levels have commented on the bad behaviour of the prosecution. Now we are expected to accept their judgement to give up. ...

Orders In Council 96-289, 96-290, and 96-291 re: Interprovincial Subpoena Act

Index to Transcript Public Inquiry, Stellarton

Written Submission 8 August 1996, on behalf of the United Steelworkers of America, with Appendix A Joint Recommendations on behalf of The Westray Families Group, the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, the United Steelworkers of America, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the United Mineworkers.

David J. Roberts Oral Submission, Day 77, 22 July 1996
to theWestray Mine Public Inquiry Commission
on behalf of United Steelworkers of America

Reinhold Endres Q.C. Oral Submission, Day 77, 22 July 1996
to theWestray Mine Public Inquiry Commission
on behalf of the Nova Scotia Government

Letter to Editor E. Z. Friedenberg, 30 July 1996

Westray Confronts Some Artful Dodgers Jim Meek's Column, 31 May 1996
Coal, Politics, ...and Don Cameron's Pal Jim Meek's Column, 2 Feb 1996

The Politics of Coal Dalton Camp, 10 June 1996:
...So far, what we have watched is a parade of witnesses, all well-meaning and each blameless. One of them has blamed the dead...

Shocking Testimony CBC Newsworld, 29 May 1996
TOP STORY: CAMERON WESTRAY (1:00 - 3:13)
(Stellarton, Nova Scotia) A former Nova Scotia Premier gives shocking testimony at the inquiry into the Westray mining disaster. Donald Cameron was premier when the mine exploded in 1992, killing 26 miners. He blamed federal bureaucrats and the miners themselves for the disaster. His testimony infuriated the victims' families, many of whom walked out of the hearings.
Inquiry Moving to Halifax CBC Newsworld, 15 Feb 1996

United Steelworkers Union A 1992 campaign at the Westray Coal Mine in Nova Scotia was initially cut short by the horrific explosion that took 26 miners' lives. However, with the Steelworkers remaining to assist in the aftermath, the surviving miners voted to join the union....

Proceedings in the Supreme Court

Litigation slows inquiries, raising questions about their effectiveness Southam New Media News Services. The problem with court action is you focus on the alleged criminal activity and you don't get to the bottom of the more general mine safety and management issues that I think are the main purpose of the Westray inquiry...

Supreme Court of Canada – Phillips v. Nova Scotia (Commission of Inquiry into the Westray Mine Tragedy) 1995 Right to fair trial – Provincial commission of inquiry into mining disaster – Commissioner empowered to compel testimony – Mine managers charged with criminal offences relating to disaster – Whether mine managers charged with criminal offences compellable witnesses at the provincial Inquiry – Whether proceeding with the Inquiry's hearings would breach principles of fundamental justice or right to fair trial of the Charter – If so, whether a temporary stay of the public hearings is a just and appropriate remedy

Curragh Flat-Lined ...I think it is fair to say that Curragh had the plug pulled on it ... Clear and simple, they flat-lined Curragh. That was it. It was over ... The specific gravity of the gold at Ketza River was overestimated, causing its closure. The closure of Sa Dena Hes was a classic case of Curragh's debt load and associated problems because of the Westray disaster, along with the Faro mine. These closures were disappointing...

Westray Boss Back in Business Ottawa Citizen Monday 8 September 1997: Sixty-four months after an underground explosion killed 26 Nova Scotia miners and left his defunct company facing manslaughter and criminal negligence charges, Clifford Frame is trying to get back in the coal business. The former Westray Mine developer is making a play for a West Virginia coal property. Since January, Mr. Frame has been chief executive officer of TSE-listed Mineral Resources Corporation. In July, MRC launched a takeover of Australian-owned Greenfields Coal Company, owner of the U.S. project. But this time there won't be $100 million in government subsidies paving the way, as there was at Westray. Clifford Frame has a fight on his hands. Both the directors of Greenfields Coal and a major U.S. union have vowed to prevent Mr. Frame from taking over...

To Westray and Beyond Ottawa Citizen Monday 8 September 1997: Just after midnight last July 4, businessman Rhett Drew's fax machine in Sydney, Australia, switched on. Mr. Drew waited as three pages, relayed from Toronto, emerged. The first, under the letterhead of Mineral Resources Corp., had a blunt, hand-scrawled ultimatum. Mr. Drew had 2½ hours to hand over the company he chaired, Greenfields Coal: "If signed by you as a firm undertaking to execute Friday, July 4, and to release as requested to the press and returned to me by fax by 2:30am July 4th Australian time, then MRC will withhold as so stated. Sorry to get you up, but on the other hand I was up all night. Thx." The next two pages outlined the takeover terms. A director must be fired ... Mr. Drew was stunned. The message was explicit. He could agree to a quick, quiet coup, or MRC would begin a hostile takeover bid that morning – an Australian holiday. Just below the nine carefully crafted demands and Mr. Clifford Frame's signature, was a blank space for Mr. Drew to sign, then fax back to Toronto.

...(Mr. Drew did some checking, and found several surprises)...

Mr. Drew's third surprise came when he checked the Greenfields accounts. He discovered that at least $1.4 million in low-interest loans had gone to companies directed or co-owned by Mr. Byrne, Mr. Frame, Mr. Smyth or their associates. None had been repaid. He re-checked Greenfields trading patterns. MRC's share in Greenfields had plunged from more than 40 per cent to 18 per cent leading up to the takeover bid. Mr. Drew's fourth and biggest surprise came when he saw that the resume of Clifford Frame – the proposed new Greenfields leader – omitted any business activities after 1988. When Mr. Drew did fill in the missing sections of Mr. Frame's resume, he found that Mr. Frame's defunct Canadian companies had left a debt trail exceeding $200 million. And that a Nova Scotia coal mine he built and ran had left 26 miners dead...

Westray Boss Wants to be Left Alone Halifax Chronicle-Herald Saturday, September 06, 1997: Mine promoter Clifford Frame says a Nova Scotia inquiry should leave him alone and concentrate on the cause of the disaster at his Westray coal mine. "They just want to label me. ... They're probably not even interested in what I have to say," he told this newspaper in a rare interview Friday. "I'm not the focus ... There's not really any attempt to focus on the cause of the accident." It's one of the few times Mr. Frame has publicly discussed the May 1992 explosion that killed 26 men and led to criminal charges against his former company, Curragh Inc., and two former Westray officials. And the criticism comes as his bid to avoid testifying about the disaster has thrown a wrench into the inquiry's plan to file its final report this fall...

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald of 6 September 1997, on page A3 carried an article titled Frame of Mind, Westray Boss Wants to be Left Alone by Dean Jobb, staff reporter. It included this: "A mining industry publication, Highgrader Magazine, reported this week that Mr. Clifford Frame, who now heads Toronto-based Mineral Resources Corp., is invloved in a bitter fight to take over Greenfields Coal Company. Mineral Resources already owns about 20 per cent of Greenfields, an Australian firm that wants to clean up an old West Virginia mine site and sell the coal recovered ... Greenfields officials say Mr. Frame's involvement with Westray was not mentioned in a resume he provided, and was only discovered after searching for his name on the Internet." [Emphasis added]

To get some idea what had been available to the Greenfields management when they did their Internet search, on 8 September 1997 a search was done on the whole Internet, for the name Clifford Frame. The two top-rated Internet search engines were used. The number one search engine at that time was HotBot, operated by Wired Magazine of San Francisco. The number two search engine was AltaVista, operated by Digital Equipment Corporation. AltaVista returned two hits, and HotBot returned nine. Three of HotBot's hits, and both of AltaVista's hits, were on http://www.alts.net/ns1625/, the site you are now looking at. Details follow:

AltaVista

"clifford frame"
2 documents match your query

1. Westray Mine Public Inquiry, 22 July 1996
Westray Mine Public Inquiry Commission Stellarton, Nova Scotia Day 77 22 July 1996. Oral Submissions of the United Steelworkers of America by Mr. David J...
http://www.alts.net/ns1625/wrpid77d.html
- size 59K - 22-May-97 - English

2. Westray Mine Public Inquiry
Westray Mine Public Inquiry Commission. Written Submissions of the United Steelworkers of America August 1996. INTRODUCTION. The United Steelworkers of...
http://www.alts.net/ns1625/wrpi99a.html
- size 108K - 24-May-97 - English

HotBot

clifford frame
Returned 9 matches
Page Counts: clifford: 50848, frame: 510381

1. Whitehorse Star Daily News
99%
Anvil Range deal concludes By ANNE PRITCHARD Star Reporter. The Anvil Range Mining Corp. says its deal with with Cominco Ltd. of Vancouver is now a fait accompli. Three weeks ago, Anvil Range agreed to sell, in a "private placement", 4.1 million.
http://www.hypertech.yk.ca/Star/Archive/020697/News/BBNews1.html
3737 bytes, 06Feb97

2. Whitehorse Star Daily News
97%
Frame in Korea to pursue Faro mine goal By ANNE PRITCHARD Star Reporter. It seems that Clifford Frame isn't giving up his attempts to take over the Anvil Range Mining Corp. He left Toronto last weekend for Korea, ostensibly to lobby Hundai Corp...
http://www.hypertech.yk.ca/Star/Archive/012997/News/News4.html
6160 bytes, 30Jan97

3. NovaNewsNet Digest for Feb. 17/97
94%
NovaNews Digest Friday, February 21, 1997 SPCA fines brothers. Sea Spa sold. CBC journalists may go to trial. FINED FOR COW NEGLECT: Robert and Douglas Collier were each fined $1000 yesterday after...
http://www.ukings.ns.ca/nnn/novanews/Archives/Feb97/970221nn.html
5805 bytes, 21Feb97

4. NovaNewsNet Digest for Jan. 22, 1997
94%
NovaNews Digest Wednesday, January 22, 1997 updated 10:30 am AST Search ends in tradgedy. Sysco for sale. New dump to open. SEARCH ENDS UNHAPPILY: Nova Scotia rescue workers found the body of missing...
http://www.ukings.ns.ca/nnn/novanews/Archives/Jan97/970122nn.html
9115 bytes, 23Jan97

5. NovaNewsNet Digest for Feb. 4/97
92%
NovaNews Digest Tuesday, February 4, 1997 New company to bring jobs. Billard found not criminally responsible Possible subpoenas in Westray case. 1-800-MONEY: Canada's largest call centre operator...
http://www.ukings.ns.ca/nnn/novanews/Archives/Feb97/970204nn.html
8855 bytes, 05Feb97

6. Quotations
75%
Quotations about Nova Scotia, or by or about Nova Scotians So I reached down, lifted the oars from where they lay in the icy water on the boat's bottom, and squeezed my fingers with all the remaining strength left in them, into a curved position...
http://alts.net/ns1625/quotes.html
53002 bytes, 04May97

7. Westray Mine Public Inquiry, 22 July 1996
72%
Westray Mine Public Inquiry Commission Stellarton, Nova Scotia Day 77, 22 July 1996 Oral Submissions of the United Steelworkers of America by Mr. David J. Roberts As you noted at the start of these public hearings, this Inquiry was given a very...
http://alts.net/ns1625/wrpid77d.html
60803 bytes, 27Apr97

8. (http://www.everton.com/norman/norman.don/minney)
61%
Copyright 1995, Don Norman, 41991 Emerson Court, Elyria, OH 44035-2537 See the "intro" file for more details. THE DESCENDANTS OF DANIEL MINNEY == DON NORMAN 1.DANIEL MINNEY The first traceable ancestor of the Minney line appears in the tax records...
http://www.everton.com/norman/norman.don/minney
114957 bytes, 15Sep95

9. Westray Mine Public Inquiry
61%
Westray Mine Public Inquiry Commission Written Submissions of the United Steelworkers of America August 1996 INTRODUCTION The United Steelworkers of America was the certified bargaining agent for the underground and surface employees of Westray...
http://alts.net/ns1625/wrpi99a.html
110705 bytes, 05May97

From The Ottawa Citizen, Friday 12 September 1997:

Ex-Westray Chief Fails in Bid for Comeback
Shareholders Reject Takeover Proposal
by Paul McKay

Former Westray Coal chief Clifford Frame's comeback bid to gain control of an Australian-owned company ended in failure yesterday. At a stormy 48th-floor shareholders' meeting in Melbourne, Mr. Frame failed to win any resolutions in support of his hostile takeover of Greenfields Coal Company. He had sought to have the current directors evicted, himself appointed CEO of Greenfields and have his associates become majority directors of the Australian-listed company.

Each vote went against Mr. Frame by almost 70 per cent. [The motion to appoint Clifford Frame as a Director was lost by a vote of 23,189,126 shares for and 48,996,359 against. There were 74,624,185 valid votes and proxies available at the meeting.] The defeat effectively ends his bid, through TSE-listed Mineral Resources Corp., to take over Greenfields. According to Greenfields directors, each vote was accompanied by jeers and heated epithets aimed at Mr. Frame and his Australian associate, John Byrne. They focused on Mr. Frame's link to the 1992 Westray explosion, which killed 26 miners in Nova Scotia, and MRC president John Byrne's record of failed business ventures.

The main attraction of Greenfields lay in lucrative tax credits worth, according to Mr. Frame, as much as $80 million U.S. on the Australian company's chief asset, a coal property in West Virginia. The takeover bid began July 4, when Mr. Frame sent a fax to Greenfields chairman Rhett Drew, giving him just 2 ½ hours to hand over his company to MRC. "There's no way ahead for Mr. Frame with us," a jubilant Mr. Drew told the Citizen moments after the meeting ended. "He didn't win a single vote. You should have heard the heckling." Other Greenfields directors confirmed that Mr. Frame had no outside backing for the post of Greenfields CEO. The only person who spoke in favour was Mr. Frame's Canadian lawyer.

The shareholder turnout was unprecedented for an Australian junior mining company. Greenfields has 100 million shares outstanding, and about 70 million votes were accounted for at the meeting through 128 shareholders ... Savouring their victory after the shareholders meeting, Mr. Drew and the Greenfields directors made no effort to disguise their personal delight at the defeat of Mr. Frame and Mr. Byrne. "The whole thrust of today's proceedings was to remove all the members of the current board, and to install Mr. Frame and Mr. Byrne," Mr. Drew says. "It was what they were trying to do in early July, except this time they did it to the shareholders. But they just gave them a bloody nose!"

The defectors from Mr. Frame's camp included MRC's Malaysian bankers, who control about 4 million Greenfields shares.

Media Release

12 September 1997

Greenfields Shareholders vote to Retain Current Board

Greenfields Coal Company Limited
ACN 06 541 831
381 Tooronga Road
Hawthorn East
Victoria 3123 Australia

Shareholders in Greenfields Coal Company Limited voted strongly in favour of retaining its current board of directors in a general meeting held in Melbourne today.

The resolutions in favour of retaining the current directors were passed by move than 60% in each case, with the highest being 53.7 million (74.4%) in favour of retaining the Chairman Mr Rhett Drew, compared with 19.5 million votes against his removal. 72% of the company's shares were voted at the meeting in an unusually high participation level.

The shareholders also voted to appoint a new director, Mr Peter Edwards, who is Managing Director of the Victor Smorgon Group. The Group recently made a $1.3 million loan to Greenfields.

Today's meeting was called in response to a request by Mineral Resources Corporation, a major shareholder which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, to consider removing the current board of directors and replace it with three MRC nominated directors.

Greenfields also took the opportunity to put two further resolutions to the shareholders, which were passed. They were:

Greenfields Chairman, Mr Rhett Drew, said the vote result was a resounding endorsement by shareholders. "Greenfields' shareholders have recognised that retention of the current Board was the best way to maximise the value of the company and they have voted accordingly," he said.

Greenfields Chief Executive Officer, Mr Stephen Barber, was also delighted with the result, "We can now put this matter behind us and return to our core business of adding value through the coal recovery process to maximise the returns to our shareholders," he said.

Results of Voting

NOMOTIONRESULTFORAGAINST
1To issue 10,350,000 preference shares to Vilo Resources Pty LtdPassed unanimously
2Utilisation of share premium accountPassed
3Removal of Rhett Drew as a Director#Lost18,478,80553,687,055
4Motion not put
5 Removal of Graham Menzies as a Director #Lost26,621,94445,558,541
6Motion not put
7Appointment of Stephen Barber as a Director*Passed49,307,01623,091,844
8Appointment of Michael Blanche as a Director**Passed52,291,15818,999,844
9Appointment of Tony Gall as a Director**Passed49,147,01622,971,844
10Appointment of Peter Edwards as a Director**Passed unanimously
11Appointment of Clifford Frame as a Director#Lost23,189,12648,996,359
12Election of John Byrne as a Director#Lost23,136,12649,049,359
13Election of Jeremy Lees as a Director#Lost23,136,12649,049,359

Frame Breaks Silence by Dean Jobb, staff reporter, Halifax Chronicle-Herald, page A12, Saturday, October 11, 1997: Coal dust, a recognized mining hazard for decades, played no role in the deadly explosion more than five years ago at the Westray mine, Clifford Frame claims. That's among the assertions the Westray inquiry will hear if it manages to force the defiant Toronto mine promoter to testify. In exclusive, wide-ranging interviews with this newspaper, the man who built and operated the Pictou County mine offered his views on key events and issues surrounding the 1992 explosion that killed 26 workers. Among them is his fervent belief – despite the findings of mining experts and the sworn testimony of dozens of his former employees – that coal dust was not a problem at the mine or a factor in the explosion. "That crap about them trying to call it a dust explosion," Frame, former chairman of Westray's parent company, Curragh Inc., said in disgust, "they are never going to prove that." The allegation that dust fuelled the explosion goes to the heart of charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death filed against now-bankrupt Curragh and former Westray officials Gerald Phillips and Roger Parry. Coal dust is combustible and can fuel a powerful explosion if it becomes suspended in the mine air in the presence of open flame. The most common source of flame is methane – a flammable gas that seeps from coal. In a scenario that has been played out in many mine disasters, a methane fire or explosion stirs up coal dust, which fuels a powerful explosion capable of wrecking an entire mine ... He did not follow the inquiry's proceedings closely and displayed little detailed knowledge of evidence presented during 77 days of hearings in 1995 and 1996. For instance, he claimed some victims suffocated when fire sucked oxygen out of the air – they were actually overcome by carbon monoxide produced by the methane fire – and suggests this proves the explosion did not cause their deaths. "The 11 that were killed up in the area where the detector was tampered with, they suffocated. But what do they care – I'm sorry to put it this way – but the coal dust or the gas explosion or whatever wouldn't have anything to do with their deaths." All of this leaves Frame with a clear conscience. "Christ, I'm sitting up here in Toronto ... How in the name of God would I know that anybody was adjusting a methane detector? How the hell would I know that? And if I didn't know that, how could I have any feeling of guilt, other than the fact that I shouldn't have developed the Goddamned mine in the first place." Frame was asked about other allegations – what he calls "all those extraneous things" – such as men threatened with suspension or firing if they complained about unsafe practices. "That's where Gerald and Roger will have to stick up for themselves," he responded. And he distanced himself from Phillips and Parry, who stood trial in 1995 and face a retrial ...

Steelworkers Welcome Westray Inquiry 6 November 1995

Order In Council, 15 May 1992
establishing the Westray Mine Public Inquiry Commission

Public Inquiries Act

Westray Criminal Trial
Pictou, Nova Scotia

44 days in session, from 6 February 1995 to 9 June 1995.

Third World Level of Justice Letter to Editor

Index to Transcript Criminal trial, Pictou

List of Exhibits Days 1-29 Days 30-44

Nova Scotia Legislature


1996 May 23, Standing Committee on Economic Development ...On private coal; private coal created Westray, that's one thing. Private coal has a long history of high fatality rates, high accident rates, absentee ownership and everything else that you could put along with private coal. We have had the private coal here in Nova Scotia and it didn't work very well...
1996 May 17, Notice of Motion 635, Mr. Robert Chisholm Westray Families Group
1996 May 9, Debate on Bill No. 13, Mr. Robert Chisholm ...Westray...
1996 May 9, Debate on Bill No. 13, Mr. Ron Russell ...Westray...
1996 May 9, Notice of Motion 508, Mr. Wayne Fraser Grief And Pain
1996 May 9, Notice of Motion 507, Mr. John Holm Tragic Anniversary
1996 May 9, Notice of Motion 506, Dr. John Hamm Memorial Service
1996 May 9, Notice of Motion 505, Premier John Savage Minute of Silence
1996 Apr 15, Third Reading, Bill #1 Interprovincial Subpoenas
1996 Apr 4, Debate on Bill #1 Interprovincial Subpoenas
1996 Mar 29, Introduction of Bill #1 Interprovincial Subpoenas

Westray Coal Mine in General

Westray Miners' Memorial

The Great North Wind Porcupine Awards 1992 David Stone of Halifax for "26 souls" (The Westray Mine in Nova Scotia is the setting: a spark sets off a time-bomb as coal dust and gas turn into a fire ball that takes the lives of 26 miners. They knew it was unsafe from the start. The government helped fund it, the company hoped nothing would go wrong...)

Mine Safety in Nova Scotia

Occupational Health & Safety Act Regulations

British Columbia Hansard Victoria, 19 June 1992: ...On May 9, 1992, just before dawn, a thunderous methane explosion roared through Westray's Plymouth, Nova Scotia, underground workings, killing 26 miners. For six long, agonizing days Canada watched and waited, clinging to the hope that some might be found alive...

British Columbia Hansard Victoria, 11 May 1992: ...I therefore propose to send a telegram to the Mines minister of Nova Scotia and the mayor of Plymouth as follows: "We share your sorrow at the loss of 11 lives in the Westray mine disaster and pray that you will reach the other 15 while they are still alive...

Alberta Hansard Edmonton, 4 February 1993: ...a mining disaster last year in the Westray Mine in Nova Scotia....

Alberta Hansard Edmonton, 2 July 1992: ...We know, Mr. Speaker, about that terrible mine disaster just recently, the Westray Mine in Nova Scotia...

Lenders Beware (the sequel) ...One of those companies was the fourth party, R.C.L. Contractors (Contractors). That company, Contractors, had secured a contract with Westray Mines Ltd. in Nova Scotia involving extensive electrical work which it subcontracted to the Third Party, Dawcolectric. In the end, the contract price for this electrical work amounted to $2.5 Million Dollars. Westray paid the fourth party, Contractors, the full $2.5 Million for this electrical work and much of this amount was paid over to Dawcolectric on its contract. There remain however a balance payable to Dawcolectric which exceeded $600,000.00...

Curragh about to replace manager when mine exploded
STELLARTON, N.S. (CP) [The Canadian Press, Monday, July 8, 1996] – A senior official with Westray Coal's parent company says the mine was poorly managed and at least one of its managers was about to be replaced when an underground explosion killed 26 men. Colin Benner was promoted as Curragh Inc.'s president of operations, then placed in charge of the Westray mine just over a month before it blew up on May 9, 1992. On Monday he told an inquiry into the disaster that it didn't take him long to learn the mine in nearby Plymouth wasn't being run properly. After just two visits to the site he set the wheels in motion to replace Roger Parry, the mine's underground manager. "I didn't feel he was the right person for the job," testified Benner. Parry has been described by former miners as abusive and insulting. Benner said supervisors like Parry should be supportive of their workers and have their best interests at heart.

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Latest revision: 2000 April 13