Two young ironworkers died Thursday night in an industrial accident at the Rock Creek open-pit gold mine construction site near Nome, state troopers said.

Craig Bagley, 27, of Anchorage, and Tyler Kahle, 19, of Wisconsin, fell about 50 feet to the ground when the lift basket they were working in tipped over, troopers said.

The men, contractors for Anchorage-based Alaska Mechanical Inc., the prime contractor on the Rock Creek mine construction, were attaching siding to the mill building when they fell, mine officials said.

They survived the fall and were transported to a local hospital. Kahle was pronounced dead at 7:49 p.m. and Bagley died at 9:09 p.m., troopers said.

The accident happened at about 6:45 p.m., according to mine personnel. Workers at the scene called 911 immediately, and Nome emergency workers arrived quickly to provide medical attention, according to the personnel. Troopers gave a different timeline, saying the accident happened at 6 p.m. and that they were not notified until 6:55 p.m.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and mine owner NovaGold Resources Inc. said they are investigating the accident.

NovaGold and its Alaska subsidiary, Alaska Gold Co., are working to provide counseling for crews and support for the men's families, said Doug Nicholson, general manager at the Rock Creek site.

The deaths have "certainly affected crews on-site and senior management. ... There's a lot of concern from my management in Vancouver (British Columbia)," Nicholson said.

The men were working in a manlift, a piece of equipment that lifts workers in a basket. They were attaching siding to the mill, Nicholson said.

The manlift basket is attached to a mechanical arm that pivots, extends and retracts, and sits on a four-wheel base. The manlift controls are inside the basket where the men were working, troopers said.

"From what I understand, all the proper safety precautions were taken," Nicholson said. The two men were roped off and wearing safety harnesses, he said. Ten days ago, the mine construction site passed a federal mine-safety inspection, he added.

AMI declined to comment on the accident Friday afternoon.

This summer, the Rock Creek mine survived a lawsuit by Nome residents who tried to block its federal permit to use wetlands. Rock Creek will be a relatively small mine after it opens this year, producing 100,000 ounces of gold per year.

Before Thursday, Alaska's mining industry had two fatalities in the past 10 years, MSHA records show.

Last year, a worker was killed by a falling boulder in an open pit at the big Red Dog zinc and lead mine near Kotzebue.

In 1997, a bulldozer operator trainee died at the Fort Knox gold mine outside Fairbanks when his bulldozer crashed down an embankment into a ice-covered settling pond.

Twenty-five people died in accidents at U.S. mines last year, not including coal mines, where 47 died.