Trapped Miners Must Move 3,000 Tons Of Rock
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Sarah Gordon
The 33 miners trapped 2,000ft underground will have to move more than 3,000 tons of rock to ensure their rescue is successful, say experts.
Rescuers install the hydraulic bore, an Australian-made Strata 950, that will dig down to the 33 miners who are holed up in a refuge annexed to a tunnel 700 metres below ground in the San Jose gold and copper mine in Copiapo, 800 km north of Santiago, on August 28, 2010. Chilean rescuers started drilling an escape shaft down to the trapped miners who showed the world through a video they were upbeat as they waited for salvation that will take months to arrive. AFP
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Experts have voiced concerns about the hard work the men will have to undertake to help rescuers, particularly if they are already in a fragile mental state. Chilean officials said rock will begin to fall into the area where the men are trapped in about a month as the drilling nears them. They will have to work in non-stop shifts to remove it with wheelbarrows and industrial sweepers.
"The thing that concerns me is the welfare of workers, their mental state. That will be real tough," said Alex Gryska, a mine rescue manager with the Canadian government. "From a health perspective, it's hot down there. They're talking about working 24/7 in 85 degrees for two months. Their mental state for that work will be critical." The men, aged between 19 and 63, have already spent more time trapped than any other miners in modern memory.
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Nothing of this magnitude has happened before; it's absolutely unheard of.
<cite> Alex Gryska, mine rescue manager with the Canadian government
</cite> The only other miners to have spent almost as long underground were three Chinese men rescued in July last year. They endured 25 days in a flooded shaft, chewing on coal and surrounded by their 13 dead colleagues. "They're facing the most unusual rescue that has ever been dealt with," said Dave Feickert, director of KiaOra, a mine safety consulting firm in New Zealand that has worked to improve China's dangerous mines.
A 31-ton drill has already been deployed to dig through solid rock down to the miners and replacement parts are being ordered in case the drill sustains any damage during the operation. Even once the tunnel is secure, bringing the men to the surface will be a time-consuming task. They will be lifted out one by one in a purpose-built metal cage - a trip that will take three hours for each miner.
To extract all 33 men will take more than four days - as long as there are no problems. "Nothing of this magnitude has happened before; it's absolutely unheard of," said Mr Gryska. But Mark Popernack, an American miner who survived the 2002 Quecreek Mine accident in Pennsylvania, said when the men emerge "they'll feel like they're being born again".
