Yellowknife’s Northern Mine Rescue Competition, an event for mines from northern Canada to practise and show off their skills, took place on Friday and Saturday.
Seven teams from six mines, including the NWT’s Diavik, Gahcho Kué and Ekati diamond mines, spent Friday competing in a firefighting challenge at the airport.
That was followed by surface and underground tests, rope rescue, first aid and obstacle courses at the multiplex all day Saturday.
Diavik’s mine rescue team took the best overall trophy in the underground category at an awards ceremony on Saturday night, while Gahcho Kué won best overall in the surface competition.
Saturday was also open to the public to watch the competition, and included a free miners’ picnic for families.
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“There’s a reason why there’s people who come back, right?” said Logan Balkwill, the superintendent for mine technical services at Ekati, who was competing on his company’s team for the second year in a row.
“It’s just an amazing event. We learned so much going and doing this [and in] all the training that leads up to it. It’s a lot of work put in by the teams, by the organizers, all the event judges, everyone coordinating, but it really all comes together. And it’s just an incredible event.”
62 Degrees North, a medical services company, runs the underground and surface first aid scenarios.
“We design the scenarios, make props to fake injuries, line up the volunteers, the actors, the casualties,” said Matt Vincent, who owns the company.
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He said the event gives the competitors extra training and shows the mines where improvements may be needed.
Competitors also participated in a mutual aid training day ahead of the competition on Thursday, where they practised firefighting at the Yellowknife Airport.
“All the mines get together, co-mingle teams, and we go through a bunch of different learning events,” said Balkwill of the training day. “We all network a bit.”
At the Saturday night awards dinner, Baffinland’s Mary River Mine came in first and Agnico Eagle Meliadine Gold Mine came in second for the John T Ryan Award, which celebrates mines that have the lowest reportable injury frequencies in the past year.
Winners of the specific competitions in 2025 were as follows:
Underground Competition Award Winners
- First Aid – Agnico Eagle Meadowbank Gold Mine (Nunavut)
- Rope Rescue – Agnico Eagle Meadowbank Gold Mine (Nunavut)
- Practical Bench – Agnico Eagle Meliadine Gold Mine (Nunavut)
- Obstacle – Agnico Eagle Meliadine Gold Mine (Nunavut)
- Smoke – Agnico Eagle Meliadine Gold Mine (Nunavut)
- Written – Rio Tinto Diavik Diamond Mine (NWT)
- Firefighting – Rio Tinto Diavik Diamond Mine (NWT)
- Bench Technician – Rio Tinto Diavik Diamond Mine (NWT)
Surface Competition Award Winners
- First Aid – De Beers Group/Mountain Province Diamonds Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine (NWT)
- Rope Rescue – Burgundy Diamond Mines Ekati Diamond Mine (NWT)
- Practical – De Beers Group/Mountain Province Diamonds Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine (NWT)
- Obstacle – Agnico Eagle Meliadine Gold Mine (Nunavut)
- Smoke – De Beers Group/Mountain Province Diamonds Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine (NWT)
- Written – Burgundy Diamond Mines Ekati Diamond Mine (NWT)
- Firefighting – De Beers Group/Mountain Province Diamonds Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine (NWT)
Here are some of our favourite shots from the event:
Jasmine Nasogaluak contributed reporting.
