On the evening of February 28th, 2019 an explosion erupted in the underground mining operations at one of Canadian company, Leagold Mining Corporation (TSX:LMC) newest acquisitions, the Fazenda mine, located in the State of Bahia.

Brazilian sources reported the accident this morning, noting that two employees of the company were killed and another three were sent to hospital with injuries when the dynamite they were working with exploded unexpectedly.

The Union of Workers of the Extraction, Research and Benefits of Iron, Basic and Precious Metals of the Serrania Region noted that the president of the union of Sindimina - Serrinha-BA, Edmilton Oliveira, has demanded an explanation for the the cause of the accident.

According to Leagold Investor Relations officer, Meaghan Brown, the mine currently has both unionized and non-unionized employees. She noted it was unclear whether the two workers who were killed were unionized employees or contracted-out employees.

The company has yet to make a public statement about the accident.

Leagold has three operational mines in Brazil. The Fazenda mine, which has been in operation since 1984, was acquired in 2018 when the company moved to acquire Brio Gold, a subsidiary of Yamana Gold. Following the transaction, Yamana Gold became the majority shareholder of Leagold, holding over 20% of outstanding shares. The CEO and board Chairman of Yamana Gold, Peter Marrone, sits on Leagold’s board. Last month, MiningWatch alerted on potential risk of Yamana’s tailings dams, following the Brumadinho disaster.

MiningWatch will be watching closely as the situation develops. We send our condolences to the families of Leomar Brito Cordeiro and Murilo Souza de Oliveira who have been affected by this tragedy.