A young miner was killed early Monday morning after his clothing was caught in a piece of equipment, according to the Alaska State Troopers. It was the first mining death in Alaska since 2007, according to records kept by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
Jacob Ryan Branham, a 20-year-old drilling helper from Nevada, was working at Livengood gold mine near Fairbanks. At about 5:40 a.m. Monday morning he suffered a possible broken neck after his clothes were caught in a large drill used for drilling into the ground, according to trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters.
After the accident Branham was driven toward Fairbanks by employees of AK Drilling Inc., a Montana-based company. Emergency workers from the Steese Fire Department met the crew driving Branham at about 7:30 a.m. on the Elliott Highway, and he was pronounced deceased at that time. His body was taken to Fairbanks, where the state Medical Examiner's Office ordered an autopsy.
A spokeswoman for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, Amy Louviere, said an inspector who visited the mine Tuesday verified that the accident took place during exploratory drilling at an abandoned mine.
According to MSHA data, this is the first mining death in Alaska since 2007, when three miners died, including two young workers at Rock Creek Mine in Nome who were killed in a construction accident after the manlift they were standing on toppled over. In 2006 a 51-year-old geologist was killed at Red Dog Mine when a chunk of frozen ore rolled off the top of a muckpile and crushed him.
In the first three months of 2010 there were six mining injuries that were serious enough to cause the injured miners to miss days of work. In 2009 there were 37 such injuries; in 2008 there were 28; in 2007 there were 70; and in 2006 there were 53.
The Livengood deposit is about 70 miles north of Fairbanks, and is visible from the trans-Alaska pipeline. The deposit is being developed by International Tower Hill Mines Ltd., a Vancouver-based company with gold and base metal exploration projects in Alaska and Nevada.
In pictures on his MySpace page, Branham is tall and blonde with a huge smile. He lists his heroes as "MOM/DAD" and wrote that he'd like to have children "someday."
Contact Joshua Saul at jsaul(at)alaskadispatch.com.