Chilean officials drilling a hole to reach 33 miners trapped half a mile underground have less than 100 meters (328 feet) to go following a two-month rescue effort.
“We expect to break through this Saturday,” Mining Minister Laurence Golborne, who arrived at the mine site yesterday, said in televised remarks. “It’s important to highlight that once we’ve broken through to the tunnels, the rescue process still will take several days.”
One of three rescue shafts reached a depth of 550 meters this morning, less than 100 meters short of where the miners took shelter Aug. 5 when the mine collapsed, according to Geotec Boyles Bros., which is digging the hole. Rescuers are advancing at a rate of about two meters an hour, Golborne said.
State-owned copper producer Codelco, BHP Billiton Ltd. and other mining companies assisted in what has become the world’s longest-ever mine rescue. The 33 men, stuck for more than two months underground, haven’t been told how close they are to being freed to avoid disappointment if the operation is delayed.
Officials will decide whether to install a casing to support the walls of the hole once drilling is complete, Golborne said today. Rescue workers would need about eight days to prepare the extraction if officials opt for the casing, he said.
Rescuers will most likely decide to install a partial casing before pulling out the men, said Enes Zepeda, a mining engineer and director of the supervisors’ union at Codelco.
‘Safety’ Concerns
“It makes sense to case the first 100 meters for safety reasons,” he said today at a press conference in Santiago. The union is recommending that rescuers do the additional work to ensure the miners’ safety, even though the volcanic-rock walls of the well appear to be stable, he said.
“The deeper it gets, the more complicated things become,” Eugenio Eguiguren, international vice president of Geotec, said yesterday in a telephone interview from Santiago.
The miners were trapped after an access tunnel caved in at Cia. Minera San Esteban Primera SA’s San Jose copper and gold mine in the Atacama region.
Golborne canceled a planned speech in London next week to monitor the mine rescue, Cristian Leon, a spokesman at the Chilean Embassy in London, said in a telephone interview today.
Contact With Miners
The miners’ only contact with the outside world has been through small drill holes into which people on the surface pass down food, water, medicine and games such as dominoes. Miners were told yesterday that drilling had advanced; they weren’t informed of the extent of the success, Andre Sougarret, the chief engineer in charge of rescue operations, told reporters at the mine.
Workers today are rehearsing parts of the rescue operation, which will entail flying miners by helicopter from the mine to a nearby hospital, Golborne said.
Health workers at the regional hospital in nearby city Copiapo are setting aside two floors where the miners will be examined and treated following their rescue, hospital director Hernan Rojas said in a radio interview today.
Drilling was restarted early today after being stopped for several hours to allow engineers to analyze the final segment to be drilled.
Narrow Well
Once officials reach the trapped miners and give the go- ahead to begin rescue operations, a tube 24 inches wide will be lowered into the hole, which measures 26 inches at its narrowest point, La Tercera newspaper reported yesterday. At 120 meters, rescuers will have to navigate a sharp turn before the hole drops straight down to the miners, the newspaper reported.
It will take about 90 minutes to rescue each man, Zepeda said.
The technique of lifting workers from a man-sized hole first proved successful in 1963 when David Fellin and Henry Throne were pulled out of the Sheppton coal mine in Pennsylvania after being trapped for 14 days. A similar rescue effort in 2007 at a coal mine in Crandall Canyon, Utah, ended in failure after six miners and three rescuers were killed.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nathan Crooks in Santiago at ncrooks@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jessica Brice at jbrice1@bloomberg.net
http://jodnet.blogspot.com
One of three rescue shafts reached a depth of 550 meters this morning, less than 100 meters short of where the miners took shelter Aug. 5 when the mine collapsed, according to Geotec Boyles Bros., which is digging the hole. Rescuers are advancing at a rate of about two meters an hour, Golborne said.
State-owned copper producer Codelco, BHP Billiton Ltd. and other mining companies assisted in what has become the world’s longest-ever mine rescue. The 33 men, stuck for more than two months underground, haven’t been told how close they are to being freed to avoid disappointment if the operation is delayed.
Officials will decide whether to install a casing to support the walls of the hole once drilling is complete, Golborne said today. Rescue workers would need about eight days to prepare the extraction if officials opt for the casing, he said.
Rescuers will most likely decide to install a partial casing before pulling out the men, said Enes Zepeda, a mining engineer and director of the supervisors’ union at Codelco.
‘Safety’ Concerns
“It makes sense to case the first 100 meters for safety reasons,” he said today at a press conference in Santiago. The union is recommending that rescuers do the additional work to ensure the miners’ safety, even though the volcanic-rock walls of the well appear to be stable, he said.
“The deeper it gets, the more complicated things become,” Eugenio Eguiguren, international vice president of Geotec, said yesterday in a telephone interview from Santiago.
The miners were trapped after an access tunnel caved in at Cia. Minera San Esteban Primera SA’s San Jose copper and gold mine in the Atacama region.
Golborne canceled a planned speech in London next week to monitor the mine rescue, Cristian Leon, a spokesman at the Chilean Embassy in London, said in a telephone interview today.
Contact With Miners
The miners’ only contact with the outside world has been through small drill holes into which people on the surface pass down food, water, medicine and games such as dominoes. Miners were told yesterday that drilling had advanced; they weren’t informed of the extent of the success, Andre Sougarret, the chief engineer in charge of rescue operations, told reporters at the mine.
Workers today are rehearsing parts of the rescue operation, which will entail flying miners by helicopter from the mine to a nearby hospital, Golborne said.
Health workers at the regional hospital in nearby city Copiapo are setting aside two floors where the miners will be examined and treated following their rescue, hospital director Hernan Rojas said in a radio interview today.
Drilling was restarted early today after being stopped for several hours to allow engineers to analyze the final segment to be drilled.
Narrow Well
Once officials reach the trapped miners and give the go- ahead to begin rescue operations, a tube 24 inches wide will be lowered into the hole, which measures 26 inches at its narrowest point, La Tercera newspaper reported yesterday. At 120 meters, rescuers will have to navigate a sharp turn before the hole drops straight down to the miners, the newspaper reported.
It will take about 90 minutes to rescue each man, Zepeda said.
The technique of lifting workers from a man-sized hole first proved successful in 1963 when David Fellin and Henry Throne were pulled out of the Sheppton coal mine in Pennsylvania after being trapped for 14 days. A similar rescue effort in 2007 at a coal mine in Crandall Canyon, Utah, ended in failure after six miners and three rescuers were killed.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nathan Crooks in Santiago at ncrooks@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jessica Brice at jbrice1@bloomberg.net
http://jodnet.blogspot.com
0 التعليقات
Post a Comment