Ore-hauling trucker dead after crash at gold mine

by

Associated Press

EUREKA — Authorities say an ore-hauling truck driver died after the vehicle he was driving overturned at an open-pit mine in northern Nevada.

Eureka County Undersheriff James Clark said Tuesday that 57-year-old Dean V. Pilcher of Eureka, Colorado, was killed when the 50-ton ore hauler he was driving overturned Monday morning at McEwen Mining Inc.’s Gold Bar project.

Clark says the crash did not appear suspicious, no other injuries were reported and autopsy results were pending.

He says the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is investigating.

The Elko Daily Free Press reports that Pilcher was an employee of contractor N.A. Degerstrom, based in Washington state.

Publicly-traded McEwen Mining, based in Toronto, acknowledged the fatality in an internet post to investors.

The company began mining the Gold Bar site in November 2017.