Newmont Mining Corporation

Elko, Nevada

A team of guardian angels appears to be working at Newmont Nevada’s operations.

In December, members of the company’s surface maintenance crew in Carlin rescued a family of five people and a litter of puppies after the family’s car slid off an icy road.

In May, Whitnie Herman, a logistic analyst for the Supply Chain department at the North American Regional Office in Elko, helped rescue a Canadian woman who had been stranded in the remote northern Nevada wilderness for almost seven weeks. The story attracted international media attention.

Herman, her husband and father were hunting for shed elk antlers when they stumbled upon Rita Chretien, who peeked out at them from inside a van that was partially submerged in mud. Chretien told them she and her husband had been headed to Las Vegas. A series of wrong turns led them to this virtually impassable dirt road where they became stuck.

Just days after the couple became stranded, Chretien’s husband decided to head out on foot with a handheld GPS unit to find help, leaving her alone in the vehicle. Chretien survived for weeks on snow, stream water and rationed snacks until she was discovered by the hunters.

Herman and her companions shared their water, trail mix and beef jerky with Chretien before trying to call for help. Cell coverage was poor, so they rode their all-terrain vehicles back to a ranch about nine miles away to call emergency responders on a landline phone. Within minutes, a life flight helicopter made its way to the area and followed Herman’s group back to the trapped vehicle.

Herman believes it was sheer luck that her group found Chretien. They had ventured to that location only because of a miscommunication among them about which direction they wanted to go while riding.

Thankfully, emergency responders were able to tend to Chretien and transport her safely to a hospital. Unfortunately, her husband was still missing at press time. Search efforts to find him have been unsuccessful and hampered by bad weather, as well as muddy, snowmelt-flooded roads and terrain.

Herman’s husband, Chad, works for Barrick Gold, and her father works for Legarza, a mining contractor. We salute them all for not only being in the right place at the right time, but for acting quickly and decisively in getting help to someone in need.

September 6, 2011