Mineral Exploration

S pring 20 1 8 21 Early in my career, while working for a junior company, I was in a camp of 25 people in north-central B.C., where we were exploring for copper. One cool, fall day, I was in the core shack by myself, logging core. The shack was a rickety two-by-four building with plastic panels, and heated by a diesel stove. To seal up the cracks and keep the mice and rats out, we had recently sprayed the inside of the shack with foam. I hung up my coat and started logging core. Soon I began to feel very, very sleepy. I lay my head down on the core to take a quick nap. My thoughts were sluggish, like they were trying to percolate through wet cement. I knew I shouldn't be so tired, because I had slept well the night before. I was able to form the thought that I should go outside and get some fresh air. I took my coat o† the hook. And immediately the carbon monoxide (CO) alarm went o†. I was able to stumble outside, and I stayed there until my head had cleared and the shack had aired out. I realized my coat had been covering the monitor and that I could have died from CO poisoning. Immediately after this incident, we improved the ventilation in the core shack and moved the CO monitor to where it couldn't be blocked. We also didn't work alone after that. Keyes says she often uses storytelling to do safety training. "Storytelling helps people understand and remember the safety lesson," she says. "It certainly works better than listing a lot of rules and regulations." Most of the stories Keyes tells are based on personal experience. "And stories that are funny or somehow over the top are easily remembered," she says. Like Mercer and Keyes, Scott Kingston is a big believer in the power of stories and anecdotes to teach the dos and don'ts of workplace safety. "If you talk about a real-life event that actually took place, whether it's an accident or a near-miss, your listeners will relate to it," says Kingston, who is a geologist with Tetra Tech Canada Inc. and a member of AME's Environment, Health and Safety Committee. Kingston says the storytelling experience is just as valuable to the narrator as to the listeners. "It enables everyone to place themselves in the same situation, and learn from one another." Kingston has a few tips for aspiring tale spinners. "Make the story interesting and relevant to listeners," he says. "Pull them into the story with lots of detail and vivid description." Finally, Kingston says, it's important for the narrator to be open. "The best talks are the ones in which the person telling the story admits their mistake and discusses what they learned from it." Exploration, feasibility, due diligence, engineering, and operations through to mine closure. Our global experience gives you expert, integrated solutions on every phase of your mining project. Same team — start to nish. na.srk.com Cradle to cradle >1,400 professionals • > 45 offices • 20 countries • 6 continents

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