Broken pipe blamed for Nevada gold mine accident that leaves 2 miners missing, feared dead

Rescuers close in on missing miners in Nevada

RENO, Nev. — Rescuers are closing in on two miners in a Nevada gold mine where a pipe broke loose from a wall and severely damaged a cage that was lowering the pair into a shaft.

Barrick Gold of North America spokesman Lou Schack says crews are close to the men near the bottom of a Meikle mine shaft in northern Nevada and still hope to reach them by day’s end Friday.

Schack says the vertical pipe apparently broke early Thursday roughly near the middle of the shaft. The pipe, about 2 feet in diameter, runs the entire length of the 1,330-foot-deep shaft and is used to carry crushed stone and rocks.

Schack confirmed five fatalities have occurred at the mine, which opened in 1996 about 55 miles northwest of Elko.