Major Drilling Canada's Kevin Buttimer (far left) accepts the Safe Day Everyday Gold Award at the AME Roundup awards event in Vancouver, B.C. Also pictured are (l-r) Bill Mercer, Chair, PDAC Health & Safety Committee; Candice Wingerter, Senior Health, Safety and Environment Advisor, Growth & Innovation, Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc.; and Kim Bilquist, Chair, AME Environment, Health & Safety Committee. Photo Credit: AME
For the third year in a row, Major Drilling received the Safe Day Everyday Gold Award from the Association for Mineral Exploration and the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada. Major Drilling staff gathered with fellow mining and mineral exploration industry safety leaders to celebrate the achievement at the AME Roundup Environment, Health & Safety Awards Breakfast on Jan. 22, 2020, in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Major Drilling received its plaque alongside fellow Gold-level award recipient and mining giant, Rio Tinto.
“We’re very proud of our teams for keeping their safety standards high,” Kevin Buttimer, Major Drilling Canada Assistant Coring Manager, said. “Thank you to AME and PDAC for recognizing our work in Canada. We will continue to prioritize safety and strive for continual improvement.”
The Safe Day Everyday Gold award qualifications are based on results from the AME/PDAC annual Canadian Mineral Exploration, Environment, Health & Safety Survey, a key program these organizations use to establish a national culture of safe and responsible mining and mineral exploration. The mandate of the program is to build the capacity of companies exploring in Canada to improve their health and safety performance and achieve zero harm.
Major Drilling’s clients throughout Canada benefit from this exceptional, ongoing approach to safety. For example, Nighthawk Gold chooses Major Drilling for exclusive drilling contracts as they continue to advance their flagship Colomac Gold Project and many highly prospective regional exploration projects throughout their vast holdings within the Indin Lake greenstone belt of the Northwest Territories, about 200 kms north of Yellowknife, NWT. Major Drilling is a long-time partner with Nighthawk Gold in this region, drilling core sample after core sample using the highest standards of safety.
At the Lac des Iles Mine in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, Major Drilling teams received a recommendation for their excellent professionalism, service and performance. Their work makes safety a priority as they explore for palladium with partner Impala Canada, formerly North American Palladium.
This Major Drilling core shack is set up at Baton Lake, NWT, Canada, supporting exploration work for Nighthawk Gold.
Major Drilling Canada teams operate multiple exploration drills at Impala Canada’s Lac des Iles Mine in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Above Canada’s 65th parallel, Major Drilling helps client Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. in its mission to become a significant gold producer. Drilling teams at Back River, Nunavut, continue to perform the exploration drilling work over multiple seasons keeping safety top of mind in challenging winter extremes.
Other exciting news for Major Drilling’s Canadian teams include the 2019 purchase of Norex Drilling, expanding exploration potential in the prolific Northeastern Ontario region. Major Drilling will also continue its positive relations with Inuit and First Nations, and is offering new drills for exploration and drill and blast projects.
Impressive Major Drilling equipment load-ins by air and via all-terrain skids get drills and gear to Sabina Gold & Silver’s remote projects in Nunavut, Canada.
Held every January in Vancouver, B.C., AME Roundup is attended by more than 6,000 people from over 40 countries. Major Drilling earned Safe Day Everyday Gold Awards at the AME Roundup in 2018, 2019 and 2020, receiving recognition for work performed the year after results are surveyed and tabulated. Now in its 40th year of operation, Major Drilling Group International Inc. is one of the world’s largest drilling services companies primarily serving the mining industry, and it looks forward to continued safety achievements in Canada and throughout its worldwide operations.
Major Drilling accepted the Safe Day Everyday Gold Award on January 22, 2020. AME and PDAC recognized Major Drilling for 1,200,066 hours without a lost time incident.
For the second year in a row, the Safe Day Everyday Gold Award went to Major Drilling for achieving more than 1 million hours without a lost time incident. Major Drilling accepted the award at the AME Roundup Convention on January 30, 2019.
Major Drilling achieved 864,227 hours without a lost time injury in mineral exploration in Canada and accepted the Safe Day Everyday Gold Award during the AME Roundup Convention in Vancouver, B.C., on January 24, 2018
Major Drilling’s TAKE 5 risk assessment, its 10 Lifesaving Rules, and a newly-launched Critical Risk Management program guide a proactive approach to ensure the health and safety of all Major Drilling employees. Results of these efforts are apparent with industry accolades like the AME/PDAC Safe Day Everyday Gold Award.
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