Reno, Nev. • Federal mine safety officials have cited an Idaho-based company for inadequate safety controls at a gold mine it operates in northeast Nevada where a worker was killed in an underground collapse in October.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration released its final report Monday on the Oct. 25 fatality at Small Mine Development's Lee Smith Mine near Elko.
"The accident occurred because mine management policies, procedures and controls were inadequate to ensure the establishment and maintenance of safe ground conditions where persons work or travel," the agency said. "Management engaged in aggravated conduct constituting more than ordinary negligence in that they failed to implement an adequate quality control process.