8xtra V4N3
Living for Today


“Miners are a funny breed. Even the educated miners. You get a guy who comes out of school and gets put in a drift [development tunnel] where he's making two or three hundred bucks a day. He’s never seen that kind of money. He’s on top of the world. He buys all his toys, eats in restaurants every night. When the time comes where he can’t keep up any more he’ll have nothing. No truck. Just an old car. I don't know if people are like that in other jobs, but miners know that even if it’s bad for them, they'll still do it.

A miner will try and beat his own record every day and work like a fucking dog knowing it’s doing him in, knowing he's getting slower. But it’s his pride. They eat their lunch running a machine with oil mist spraying on the sandwich. That’s how these guys get stomach cancer. I’d tell these guys, don’t waste your life for the overtime. But you know what the guys say, [you can] go home sleep with my wife, drink my last beer but don’t touch my bonus.”
Rick Chopp, Timmins
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