Red Dog Mine employee dies in production drill incident, mine operators say

A terraced pit mine with a dust explosion in the middle
Red Dog Mine in 2010. (Alaska Public Media)

An employee at the Red Dog Mine died during an incident at a production drill, mine operators say.

In a release Sunday, officials with Teck Alaska, the operators of the mine, said a 47-year-old employee died on Saturday. Teck said no other employees or contractors were injured and “there is no ongoing safety or environmental risk.”

A spokesman for Teck said the federal Mining Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident, and the only information they could provide was that the employee was male.

A major employer in the Northwest Arctic Borough, Red Dog Mine is the largest zinc mine in the world, located about 90 miles north of Kotzebue.

Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.

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