Work has resumed at a precious metals mine in south-central Montana a day after a 24-year-old worker died in an underground machinery accident, mine officials said.
Noah Dinger of Post Falls, Idaho, died just before 1:30 a.m. Monday when he was operating a machine that bolts wire panels onto the stone walls of an underground area to prevent falling rock during future mining, said Heather McDowell, a vice president with Sibanye Stillwater, the owner of the Stillwater Mine near Nye.
“His dad was working in the area and actually was the one that found him,” McDowell said. No one witnessed the accident, but Dinger apparently got caught in the rotating shaft on the bolter, she said.
McDowell confirmed Dinger’s name after a family friend posted an online fundraiser for his wife Kaylei and their two sons, ages 3 and 1.
Work was halted Monday at the only platinum and palladium mine in the U.S. and resumed Tuesday. Each shift of workers will be instructed about the risks of rotating mine equipment, McDowell said.
Dinger worked for mine contractor Moran Mining of Canada.
The accident is being investigated by the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
