2 missing miners feared dead at Nevada gold mine

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Two missing miners were feared to be dead in an accident today at an underground gold mine that has seen three fatalities over the past 11 years.

Barrick Gold Corp. has not confirmed any deaths at the Meikle mine, but a company official referred to the search as a “recovery effort” directed by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

“While we don’t have all of the facts at this point, what we do know about the incident is not encouraging,” said Greg Lang, president of Barrick’s North America Region.

Lang said the initial investigation was focused on a hoist in the ventilation shaft of the mine, which is about 55 miles northwest of Elko and 275 miles northeast of Reno.

An official for MSHA in Washington D.C. told The Associated Press that two workers were being lowered into the shaft when the hoist operator noticed a “large surge of pressure on the hoist drum and the mine was evacuated.”

The workers “have not been located,” said the official, who was not authorized to disclose the information publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The accident occurred about 1:15 a.m. at the mine with about 300 workers. The Toronto-based company Barrick notified the missing miners’ families Thursday and shut down the mine’s underground operations, Lang said.

Barrick, the largest gold company in the world, owns several mines in Nevada — the fourth largest producer of gold in the world behind South Africa, Australia and China.