Courage, compassion, and commitment. These are just a few of the traits shared by the latest inductees into Agnico Eagle’s Mine Rescue Hall of Fame.
Each one of these four individuals has trained for hours on how to rescue miners and others who are trapped or injured underground because of accidents, floods or disasters such as underground fires or explosions.
The 2021 inductees into our Mine Rescue Hall of Fame are: Chris Pitre from Nunavut, Luis Ángel Huereque Ponce from Mexico, Kari Herukka from Finland, and Pascal Noel from the Abitibi.
They join an illustrious group of individuals who have made a significant contribution to mine rescue at Agnico Eagle. Our Mine Rescue Hall of Fame program began in 2009 as a way to recognize the efforts and hard work of individuals who have devoted their time and skills to ensure Agnico Eagle has a great mine rescue program across our operations.
Each year we pay tribute to our mine rescue teams by recognizing one individual from each of our regions – Abitibi, Nunavut, Finland, and Mexico – with the name of each recipient permanently inscribed on a wall plaque at our flagship mine, LaRonde Complex. Each inductee receives a keepsake framed print from a Quebec artist, which illustrates an Agnico Eagle mine rescue team in action.
Congratulations to Agnico Eagle’s 2021 Mine Rescue Inductees. Your courage, compassion and commitment inspire us all.
Chris Pitre has volunteered with teams in both Canada and Australia and has three mine rescue competitions under his belt. Over the years, Chris has upgraded his skills as an industrial firefighter and as a team captain, and he will lead the Nunavut team at the next competition in Yellowknife. Chris was also a member of Agnico Eagle’s 2020 International Mines Rescue Competition team, but the event was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19.
Luis Ángel Huereque Ponce joined Agnico Eagle in 2009 and today he is a supervisor at the Pinos Altos mine, in the drilling and blasting area. Luis Ángel joined the underground mine rescue brigade in 2014 and participated in national underground mine rescue competitions in both 2015 and 2018. Luis Ángel now applies his extensive training and rescue experience as one of the leaders of Agnico Eagle Mexico’s firefighting brigade.
Kari Herukka has been part of the Kittila-Finland Mine Rescue team from the very start, in 2008, and he once attended a mine rescue competition in Ontario, Canada. He currently works as a safety technician in our underground mine, conducting training for Kittila’s mine rescue courses and preparing rescue scenarios for regular emergency training. Kari’s contributions have been key to the success of Kittilä’s mine rescue program over the past 12+ years.
Pascal Noel works at our Goldex mine in Abitibi and has over 13 years of mine rescue experience. He began competing in mine rescue competitions in 2014. He was a member of the team that brought home two provincial championships, and he was a participant in the World Mine Rescue competition. Pascal is calm, even in the most stressful situations, and is a great ambassador for Goldex’s mine rescue team.