A picture from the company website shows part of the Jolu gold mill work site in August, 2010. (Golden Band Resources)Operations have been temporarily suspended at a gold mill in northern Saskatchewan after a worker was trapped underground for some 10 hours in a pile of ore.

The man, who has been identified as Rocky Arsenault, 61, was working as a contract welder at the Jolu gold mill, north of La Ronge, Sask.

At around 1:30 p.m CST, the worker became pinned by rocks against equipment, Golden Band Resources vice-president Rodney Orr said. He had been trying to dislodge some rocks in the crushing room when the rocks shifted, trapping him, Orr said.

Arsenault was rescued around 11:30 p.m. — cold, but otherwise uninjured.

"It's unbelievable the amount of strength he had to get through this," Orr said.

According to Ron Pratt, the La Ronge volunteer fire chief who spent most of the day and night assisting with the rescue, the worker got stuck among the ore inside the crusher.

"He got caught in the [gold] ore as it flowed down into the chute, and he was buried about waist deep," Pratt said.

The ore was piled up three to five metres high around him, Pratt said.

The danger was that he would sink deeper into the ore, or that the ore above would fall on top of him, Pratt said.

The rescue involved scooping the ore around his legs in pails and removing it in small loads.

"It was a very slow, methodical type of rescue," Pratt said. "You can't rush it."

Pratt said among his main concerns for the trapped worker were hypothermia and frostbite. It was around –30 C outside at the mill, although the building had heat inside.

'He was calm, he was determined, he was an amazing man.'—Ron Pratt, La Ronge, Sask., fire chief

Because of the tight space, only one rescuer at a time was able to get close to Arsenault. They kept encouraging him throughout the night, Pratt said.

"He was calm, he was determined, he was an amazing man."

Finally, they were able to pull him out.

"Everybody was elated," Pratt said. "It was fantastic."

The company said Arsenault did not suffer any apparent injuries, but was taken to hospital in La Ronge as a precautionary measure. He was released Wednesday morning.

Pratt said he believed the man is taking a little time off but will return to the mill. (The RCMP had earlier described the operation as a gold mine site.)

"He's going back," Pratt said.

Mine inspectors have been notified of the incident, and operations at the mill have been temporarily suspended as officials try to determine the cause of the incident.

Golden Band Resources started milling gold last month from ore at the refurbished facility, and open pit mining was set to begin this month.

The mill site is about 130 kilometres north of La Ronge, nearly 400 kilometres north of Saskatoon.

(with files from Canadian Press)