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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (88882)	8/18/2002 2:22:51 PM
From: E. Charters	Respond to of 116753

Chrysotile products can probably be handled safely with personal ventilation, filtration and using water for cutting and drilling. I know people who worked as samplers in gold mines where previous samplers had died within 3 years of starting. (Back sampling is done dry, by chipping with a moil, and the dust falls right back in your face.) They survived by the simple expedient of wearing a cotton mask and were still alive 25 years later, and healthy. The deaths from Asbestosis in Quebec and Ontario were from dry grinding and plant processes, underground mining with dry drilling, the complete lack of ventilation in mills, and the lack or any kind of protection for workers - all in the blue asbestos industry. In Thetford, Quebec you could see inches of blue asbestos dust accumulating on every surface in the plants. The open pit iron mines of Wabush in Quebec are just as badly controlled, with laissez fair health and ventilation standards and they have created 50 new cases of silicosis each year. It is all preventable by stringent engineering controls and practical personal ventilation and filtration controls. The British Coal mines had to do something about lung disease and they brought in the Racal Airstream helmets, and these have belped immensely. Something can always be done about health and safety to improve it. It is a constant battle with neandrathal management, bean counters and just plain ignorance. Silica is the Ford Fiesta, or SUV Tire of the mining industry. Asbestos is the Zeppelin. EC<:-}