VANCOUVER — The operator of the Red Chris gold and copper mine in northwestern B.C. says it is applying safety lessons learned from a collapse last year that trapped three workers to a planned expansion of underground operations.

Newmont Corp., which also owns a majority stake in the mine whose expansion has been identified for fast-tracking as a nation-building project by the federal government, said Friday that its findings about the July 2025 accident have also been shared with the industry to ensure safety provincewide.

“The fall of ground occurred in an area that was constructed by the previous owner,” said John Mullally, the company’s head of external relations and social performance, at a news conference in Vancouver.

“Newmont convened a group of third-party safety experts and our own internal people as well. We have completed that investigation. We’ve shared those findings with industry.

“If we implement the findings, especially around ground support (and) ensuring that we implement Newmont’s industry-leading safety practices, then it’s our finding that we’ll be able to build and operate the Red Chris block cave (expansion) safely.”

The expansion project received a key regulatory approval from the B.C. government this week with an amended certificate allowing for the transition from existing open-pit operations to a block-cave underground process.

Ottawa has said the expansion will boost Canada’s copper production by more than 15 per cent by extending the life of the mine by over a decade while the shift underground will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70 per cent.

The expanded mine is also expected to employ 1,500 workers when operational while supporting as many as 1,800 workers at the peak of construction.

Two collapses at the mine last July trapped three workers, forcing them to take shelter in a refuge station before they were rescued more than two days later.

The workers were trapped while performing exploratory drilling at the mine to support the planned transition to block-cave underground mining.

The investigation posted on Newmont’s website found rock mass deterioration over a four-year period increased the loads placed on the ground support system, leading to bolt failures and the “unravelling of loose material.”

Newmont’s report also found fault with the mine’s previous operator, saying “certain approaches” fell short of Newmont’s standards.

“Newmont has identified and committed to a series of corrective actions to prevent similar occurrences at the block cave project, ensure that excavated areas meet Newmont’s standards, and align all future excavation and work associated with those standards.”

Among the findings were that the mine’s previous operator didn’t use industry leading standards on its rock mass classification system, an oversight that led to overestimation of ground quality.

It says Newmont will reassess existing ground support and add more or alternate supports based on the reassessment.

“The investigation confirms that we can safely build and operate the block cave project by reassessing the installed ground support, updating standards, and addressing the conditions that led to the fall of ground incident,” the report said.

At the same news conference, Premier David Eby said the province was conducting its own review of the accident, and the plan is to take any applicable lessons learned from the case and apply them “at every mine in the province.”

“We have a shared goal with steelworkers, mine workers, with industry in the province, including Newmont, to have the safest mining sector in the world,” Eby said.

“That’s our goal. It is the one reminder to all of us that we can’t be complacent about mine safety. We have to ensure those safeguards are in place.”

B.C. Mining Minister Jagrup Brar, meanwhile, said the provincial investigation into the collapse is ongoing, and findings will made public once all the reports are in hand.

“The B.C. mining sector is the safest heavy industry sector in the province and in the country,” Brar said. “During that investigation, if we find anything that could actually make the mining sector safer, we share that information with every mine as we go during that process.

“And if there’s any action we need to take, we take that action as well.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2026.

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press