Agnico Eagle annually celebrates the brave people who help develop, train and lead our mine rescue teams. Thanks to their dedication and service, Agnico Eagle continues to enhance our global reputation for excellence in mine rescue and emergency response.
Our Mine Rescue Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who continue to make our workplaces safer for employees, contractors and our host communities. We are proud to announce this year's inductees to the Hall of Fame: Dave Loder from Meliadine, Cliff McGill from Macassa, Éric Collin from Goldex and Joni Kangas from Kittilä. Each of these individuals has trained for hours in how to rescue injured personnel, fight fires, and respond professionally to a wide variety of incidents.
Their names have now been inscribed on the Hall of Fame wall plaque at our LaRonde Complex, joining the [44] previous inductees since the award's inception in 2009.
Dave Loder has been a member of the mine rescue team at Meliadine since 2006. In fact, the team exists because of his passion to develop it from a small group of surface rescuers into the team it is today. Dave puts his heart and soul into emergency response, training numerous surface and underground teams and representing Meliadine in multiple competitions in Yellowknife and Nothwest Territories, Canada. Over the past 17 years, he has been a mine rescue instructor, a Drager BG4 tech level II, a Firefighter level II, an Industrial firefighter and an Incident commander.
Cliff McGill is a mine rescue legend at Macassa, completing his initial mine rescue training in 1990 and continuing to be a valued trainer and coach for 32 years now. Throughout his career, Cliff has played a signficant role in a number of emergency situations, and helped develop and maintain mine rescue programs at Lac Minerals/Macassa. He has participated in over 16 district competitions and five provincial competitions, twice coming in second place. Cliff's dedication, infectious laugh and golden heart has left a permanent mark at the Macassa site and its mine rescue program.
Éric Collin began his mine rescue training at Goldex in 2006, entering his very first mine rescue competition that very same year. Since then, his versatility has made Éric indispensable to the Goldex mine rescue team – he can go from wrapping a tourniquet to lifting heavy pads in an instant. His calm demeanour and ability to focus means there is never a problem, only solutions, and he always rallies the team to succeed safely.
Joni Kangas began his career as a professional firefighter and medical responder at Fire Rescue Lapland. This experience has given him an excellent foundation in emergency response and it's no surprise that since joining Kittilä mine over five years ago as a safety technician, Joni has become a recognized leader of its mine rescue team. He has acted as a captain in several mine rescue missions and was a leader of Mine Rescue Team Finland at the 2022 International Mine Rescue Competition in West Virginia, USA, where the team performed exceptionally well, considering it was the first time they had ever competed at the international level.
Congratulations to Agnico Eagle's 2023 Mine Rescue Inductees for your dedication and willingness to make a difference.