Competitors this year will include teams from Barrick Gold's Hemlo-Williams mine, Wesdome Gold's Eagle River operation, Alamos Gold's Island mine and a team from the Lac des Iles mine of North American Palladium.

In addition to Lac des Iles and the Musselwhite mine rescue teams, defending 2017 district champions include Glencore's Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations in the Onaping District; Canadian Gypsum's Hagersville mine in the Southern District; Vale Canada West mines in the Sudbury District; Tahoe Canada's Timmins West and Bell Creek mines in the Timmins District; and Kirkland Lake Gold's North Complex Holt-McDermott and Taylor mines in the Kirkland Lake District.

The Thunder Bay and Algoma districts will compete at the Michipicoten Memorial Community Centre in Wawa. The Red Lake District will convene at Neebing Arena in Thunder Bay, the Sudbury and Onaping districts will meet to compete at the I J Coady Memorial Arena in Levack, and the Southern District event will be hosted at the Caledonia Fairgrounds Arena in Caledonia.

The Red Lake and Southern districts will compete on May 10, while the remaining will have their contests both May 10 and 11. The Timmins and Kirkland Lake district will be convening May 9-11 at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex in Timmins.

The events, organised by Workplace Safety North arm Ontario Mine Rescue, will include firefighting tests as well as first aid response, emergency equipment use and decision-making capabilities within a simulated mine environment.

The winners from each of the seven districts will compete in the 2018 Provincial Competition June 4-8 at Alamos Gold's Young-Davidson mine in Matachewan.