Vale won't be charged in mine worker's death

Nearly a year after his death, the Ministry of Labour will not lay any charges in the case of 47-year-old Stephen Perry, who died at Coleman mine in Sudbury last year.

On Jan. 29, Perry was struck by a 14-tonne rock that became dislodged from the mine face at the 4,200-foot level.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A spokesperson with the Ministry of Labour said the investigation found that Vale could not have anticipated what happened.

"We also concluded that the conditions which lead to the rock falling on the worker were neither visually detectable [nor] reasonably foresable by Vale," Matt Blajer said.

"Charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act will not be laid. At this point, it's a very unfortunate death and our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mr. Perry."

The ministry also determined Perry had "followed procedures established in the workplace."

About 1,600 Vale employees were off the job for several days at all five mines inSudbury, following the incident last year.

Perry was the fourth worker to die inside of a year at Vale operations in Canada.