Page 56 Page 54 By Frank Giorno The Diamond s in the Rough are an all female mine rescue team from Canada that made an im pressive debut at the 2018 Inter national Mine Rescue Competition in Russia They won the People s Choice A ward and were honoured for their performance in the competi tion And they did it all in Russia a country where it s illegal for wom en to work in underground mines The Diamonds in the Roug h mem bers work in mines or mining relat ed companies from diferent parts of Canada They became the frst all female team to compete at the International Mine Rescue Com petition For that accomplishment they received an award to com memorate them as the frst allfe male team to compete at an inter national mine rescue competition Mine rescue competitions are held in mining jurisdictions all over the world including in Ontario and other Canadian provinces The competitions are a way for the mine rescue teams from individual mines to stay prepared and ready to respond to any mine emergen cy During the competition teams are evaluate d on how they re spond to a simulated emergency The idea for creating an all wom an mine rescue team came to Kari Lentowicz in 2007 but it was at that time a far of idea As years passed I was often the only female competitor in mine rescue events in the underground portion Lentowicz recalled But nine years later an opportunity arose that led to the formation of the Diamonds in the Roug h mine rescue team In 2016 I had the opportunity to volunteer at the international mines rescue competition in Sud bury Ontario At this event there were only fve female competitors out of about 180 Lentowicz said Lentowicz knew then that there was a need to revive the plan to showcase the strengths and ca pabilities of women in these emer gency response roles The end goal was to increase the number of women in these roles and in 2017 we started our search for individuals and when we knew we had enough interest we formed a nonproft with an ini tial goal of training a team for the International Mines Rescue Com petition in Russia Lentowicz said The team members competing in Russia consisted of Renae Campbell LevittSafety Heather MacKenzie Diavik Mines Janie Blanchette Agnico Eagle V al dOr Kari Lentowicz KLEMQ Consulting Fanny Lapor te Ag nico Eagle Baker Lake Naomi Fugle Cameco McArthur River and Jodi Brasch Hudbay Miner als Snow Lake Mine rescue is not only a legis lated requirement in Ontario and other Canadian provinces but a proven necessity in a mining en vironment explained Lentowicz Though we train extensively the hope is that our services are never needed However as history has proven the missions mine rescu ers respond to are only successful because of the skills they develop through their training programs I know I always felt a bit more se cure working at site having a hand Diamonds in the Rough Demonstrate Abilities In Mine Rescue Competitions Contd on Pg 55