Earthquakes Canada confirms early morning seismic event in Sudbury

Seismic event in Greater Sudbury Earthquakes Canada has confirmed a seismic event at Creighton Mine in Sudbury. Vale officials say the fault slip was caused by a blast.

A seismic event measuring 3.2 in magnitude took place at Creighton Mine early Wednesday morning.

Earthquakes Canada said the event took place at 4:14 a.m. at a depth of 2.53 kilometres underground. For perspective, seismic events of a magnitude of 5 or less are very unlikely to cause damage.

“Lightly felt in Sudbury,” Earthquakes Canada said in its website.

An official with Vale Ltd. told CTV News in an email the seismic event resulted “from a fault slip event that was triggered during a development blast on 8330 level.”

“There was only one employee underground during the blasting timeframe and he has safely returned to surface,” Vale spokesperson Fernanda Trevisan said.

“We are currently following our Significant Seismic Event protocol and all affected areas have been isolated. We will thoroughly inspect affected areas when energy levels have returned to background levels.”

Trevisan said it’s common for fault slip events to happen from time to time as development interacts with underground geological structures.

“Our emergency response processes are in place to ensure rigorous safety protocols are followed when seismic events occur,” he said.

Residents with questions or concerns can call Vale’s Community Concerns Line at 705-222-VALE.