Dying For Gold

Book excerpt: On September 18, 1992 a violent explosion deep in Yellowknife's Giant mine took the lives of nine miners. The men had defied the picket lines that were the scene of violent clashes between the mineworkers and company security forces during a long and bitter strike/lockout. Roger Warren, a veteran miner whose skills were legendary, was convicted of nine counts of murder, but his guilt is disputed to this day. In this stunning, updated 30th anniversary expose, journalists Lee Selleck and Francis Thompson tell the dramatic story behind this tragedy, the vast personal and political fallout, and the lessons that hold true today. Dying For Gold unravels the complex web of events leading up to the explosion and gives incisive portraits of the major players on all sides of the bitter standoff. Selleck and Thompson conducted more than 500 interviews and spent five years writing Dying For Gold. Their work takes you inside the mine, to the picket lines, to the front row of the courtrooms for Roger Warren's trials, and the victims' families' tenacious struggle for compensation and justice. Dying For Gold inspired the CBC's recent, award-winning podcast, Giant – Murder Underground.