VAL D'OR, Que. -- A mining disaster in northern Quebec that killed eight men was not the fault of the owners of the operation, a jury has found in acquitting Belmoral Mines Ltd. on all manslaughter charges.
Belmoral pleaded not guilty to eight counts of manslaughter stemming from criminal negligence when charges were laid after an inquiry into the cave-in at its gold mine in Val d'Or May 20, 1980.
The trial before Superior Court Judge Yvan Migneault had been expected to last only two months but stretched over six.
'We consider this judgment a success,' said Belmoral lawyer Marcel Cinq-Mars Wednesday. 'For Belmoral, this is a blessing in a sense.'
'It might help to erase what has been said, thought or imagined prior to the trial. My opinion is that this decision is worth a lot more than anything said before,' Cinq-Mars said.
The manslaughter charges arose from a report by Provincial Judge Rene Beaudry that alleged the Calgary-based Belmoral company rushed its mine into production and compromised the safety of its miners.
The jury reached its decision five days after adjournment of a six-month trial that heard detailed testimony from dozens of mining experts on what led to the collapse of Belmoral's Ferdeber mine, 500 kilometers north of Montreal.
Its deliberations were delayed when two of the 12 jurors fell ill over the weekend. One was subsequently excused for medical reasons.
Crown Prosecutor Jean-Pierre Major said he would take several days before deciding whether to appeal the decision. 'I'm going to study the remarks of the judge and I'll see what to do after,' he said.
Eight miners died in May 1980 under 68,000 tons of debris when part of a 150-meter shaft collapsed but 16 men escaped by scrambling through a partially completed ventilation shaft.
The Belmoral cave in was the worst Quebec mining disaster since 1947 when 12 men burned to death in a nearby mine.
