Monday, September 27, 2010

Rescue Capsule 'Phoenix" Arrives at The Mine

One of the rescue capsules has arrived at the Chilean mine according to the following article.The capsule is 21 inches wide and contains tanks of air, a microphone for communications, and equipment to monitor the miner's heart rate and breathing as they are raised to the surface. Both the families and the miners themselves are reminded that their nightmare will eventually end.
    . . . June


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'Phoenix' capsule arrives to rescue Chilean miners
Telegraph:

The first of three rescue capsules, named Phoenix, arrived at the mine on Saturday.

'We have called it Phoenix because I think it will bring about a rebirth of the miners, and a new life for them,' said mining minister Laurence Golborne.

The miners have been trapped 2,257 feet underground since August 5 when the roof of the mine collapsed.
They were discovered alive and well 17 days later, and rescuers have been drilling to reach them since August 31.

Families gathered at Camp Hope, high in the Atacama Desert, applauded and chanted "Viva Chile!" as the six foot high metal cage was unveiled.

"It is what we have all been waiting for," said Elizabeth Segovia, sister of one of the trapped miners.

"Of course we know that there will be difficulties, but now everything will be much easier."

The 420kg capsule, painted in the colours of the Chilean flag, is 21 inches wide and contains tanks of air, a microphone for communications, and equipment to monitor the miner's heart rate and breathing as they are raised to the surface.

Cristina Nunez, wife of trapped miner Claudio Yanez, climbed into the cage and said: "I'm very happy.

Claudio will fit inside perfectly because he's one of the skinnier ones. But all 33 will fit fine. This bring us a step closer to the rescue."

Engineers in charge of drilling to rescue the miners believe that they are likely to be reached in early November.

Read entire article . . .

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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Chile Mine Company collapses With The Collapse of the Mine

In today's economy, it is perfectly understandable that the mine company might not be able to withstand all of the expenses necessary to pay for the recovery of the miners and all of the other incurred expenses. The mine company has had its assets frozen after declaring its bankruptcy. The miners still underground now have the problem of unemployment when they return.
   . . . June


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Mine collapse in Chile heralds collapse of company:
Albuquerque Express Saturday 25th September, 2010
 
While 33 Chilean miners remain trapped 2,000 feet underground, the mine that they work for has had its assets frozen after declaring itself bankrupt.

The mining company San Esteban buckled following the collapse of the main access tunnel of the copper and gold mine in which the men are trapped, but was already over US$10 million in debt by that point

Now, the Chilean government wants the mine to pay for the multi-million dollar rescue operations and pay the miners’ salaries.

An appraiser has been asked to step in and assess the company’s assets in order to determine whether it should be allowed bankruptcy protection.

Meanwhile, the rescue of the miners is on track despite a recent technical malfunction, according to Rene Aguilar, a leading engineer on the rescue team.

One of the Schramm T-130 drills sent down to bore a hole large enough for the trapped miners to be pulled up has broken down at a depth of 147 metres.

Aguiler told the BBC that part of the drill’s hammer had broken off, but reassured the miners’ families that work would resume later in the day.

Officials are still looking at early November as the rescue deadline, more than a month earlier than the Christmas timeframe initially suggested.

Read more . . .

Thursday, September 16, 2010

US Drilling Experts Help to free Chilean miners

U.S. drilling experts help trapped miners


 The article below shows the real compassion that is felt for the trapped miners in Chile. "We have got humans in the ground. It doesn't matter if they are Americans or Chileans," Brandon Fisher said Monday in his first interview since arriving in Chile eight days earlier. Fisher and a small crew of American drillers are one of the three drilling teams racing to rescue 33 trapped miners buried 2,300 feet below the ground.
    . . . June

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American team helping to free Chilean miners
CNN.com: By Patrick Oppmann September 15, 2010

At the San Jose Mine, Chile (CNN) -- Brandon Fisher has the deep orange hue of someone who has a sunburn on top of a sunburn. The creases under his eyes are evidence of how little sleep he has had lately.

Fisher and a small crew of American drillers are the tip of the spear for Plan B, one of the three drilling teams racing to rescue 33 trapped miners buried 2,300 feet below the ground.

It's a high pressure assignment expected to continue for months in Chile's remote and unforgiving Atacama Desert

Fisher's crew has been working around the clock for more than a week. Despite the grueling schedule, he said he's up for the challenge.

"We have got humans in the ground. It doesn't matter if they are Americans or Chileans," Fisher said Monday in his first interview since arriving in Chile eight days earlier.

"We have the ability to help them out, and that's the whole reason we are here. Miners are miners; it doesn't matter what country they are from."

Fisher is based in Berlin, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the state's mining country thousands of miles from Chile. His company, Center Rock Inc., aided in the rescue of nine miners who were trapped for more than four days after the 2002 collapse of the Quecreek Mine.

He has drilled oil, gas and water holes and the foundations for the Trump Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

Read on . . .

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Rescue Capsule for Chile Miners only 21ins wide

 The Chile miners will have to climb into a narrow cylindrical pod for the journey to the surface. According to the article below, the steel rescue cage will have an external diameter of just 21 inches and a reinforced roof to protect its passenger against any rocks or debris. This week the miners started an exercise regime to ensure they are kept slim enough to fit into the capsule.
   . . . June


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Chile miners: engineers unveil 21ins wide rescue capsule
Telegraph: Fiona Govan Published: 4:22PM BST 14 Sep 2010

After enduring what is expected to be between three and four months trapped within the San Jose mine the men will have to climb into a narrow cylindrical pod for the ascent - a journey that will take at least an hour.

A technical team from the Chile's Navy will start constructing the bullet-shaped chamber so it is ready when one of three drilling efforts finally bores through the solid rock to create a shaft wide enough to raise the men, who have been trapped since the mine collapsed on August 5.

The steel rescue cage will have an external diameter of just 54 cms (21 inches) and a reinforced roof to protect its passenger against any rocks or debris that may be dislodged during the journey to the surface.
This week the miners started an exercise regime to ensure they are kept slim enough to fit into the capsule.
The men, who will be raised one by one in an operation expected to last several days, will be strapped into the chamber in a harness that will keep them in a secure standing position even if they faint.

A guidance system using wheels to guide it up the shaft should help minimise friction and video link will allow rescuers to communicate with the miner throughout the ascent.

The 2.5m (8ft 2in) long capsule will also be provided with an oxygen supply and a special lighting system and will include an escape hatch and a safety device that the passenger can use to lower himself back to the starting point should it get stuck along the way up.

The device was designed by a naval technical team at the Maestranzas shipyard on the specific orders of Chile's president Sebastian PiƱera.

Read on . . .

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Giant Drill Arrives at Chile mine

A truck carrying pieces of the third
drill that will be used in the... 
((AP Photo/Aliosha Marquez))


 The officials are busy drilling down some rescue shafts through the solid rock to their location. A huge oil drilling machine has just arrived at the site to start a third rescue shaft. It's still going to take a long time to reach them. In the meantime, the men are now allowed cigaretes and they are regularly speaking to their families.
   . . . June



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Giant drill at Chile mine greeted with cheers
Yahoo! News:

COPIAPO, Chile (AFP) – Scores of flatbed trucks began unloading a huge oil drilling machine Friday to dig a third rescue tunnel to 33 trapped miners, as one drill was nearly one-third of the way down and another lay idle for repairs.

The families of the trapped miners cheered and waved flags as they welcomed the first of 42 trucks that rolled in around 8:30 am (1230 GMT).

'These trucks are enormous,' marveled Maria, sister of trapped miner Dario Segovia. 'We were up all night here in the camp waiting for them.'

Several of the six-axle trucks limped in with flat tires, a result of driving to the mine on a steep hillside dirt road filled with potholes and sharp rocks.

Their arrival was delayed as excavators and bulldozers had to broaden the entrance to the San Jose mine near Copiapo, a city some 800 kilometers north of Santiago, to accommodate the giant trucks.

The trapped miners have become national heroes since they were found alive on August 22, 17 days after a mine cave-in in the remote Atacama desert. The miners are trapped some 700 meters (2,300 feet)
below the surface.

However euphoria over their discovery was dampened by news it could take months, possibly until Christmas, to drill a shaft to rescue the miners.

Rescuers are dropping food and water down narrow shafts to the miners to keep them alive, along with medicines and games to keep them healthy and occupied.

One of the delivery shafts Friday was fitted with a multi-use conduit reaching all the way down to the miners' shelter, providing them with permanent supplies of oxygen, water, and a telephone line.

"Now they can speak by telephone via the conduct," the lead engineer in the rescue effort, Andres Sougarret, told reporters Friday.

The trucks bringing the new equipment, designed to drill oil wells and operated by Canada's Precision Drilling, arrived from Iquique in waves because the camp work zone is too small to park them all together.

The giant drill "RIG-422" they were bringing can tunnel up to 2,000 meters below the surface at a speed -- depending on the density of the ground -- of between 20 and 40 meters a day, according to Chilean officials.
Officials have dubbed the effort "Plan C," and if all goes according to schedule workers will drill down just 597 meters (1,958 feet), shortening the rescue time to perhaps two months.

Read on . . .

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Film About Trapped Miners Planned by Chilean Director

 It was just a matter of time. What a premise for a movie! 33 trapped miners underground for months with their individual stories and motivations. Wow! To make it even better, the director plans to donate the profits to finance the education of the miners' children.
     . . . June


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Chilean director to make film on trapped miners:

2010-09-08 08:40:00  SIFY News

Chilean director Rodrigo Ortuzar has announced that he is planning to make a film on the 33 miners trapped for a month in the country and that he will donate the profits to finance the education of the miners' children.

'All the money that is collected, all of it, not a percentage, all the money that is collected at the box office in Chile is going to go directly to a foundation that is going to be in charge of looking out for the education of the miners' children,' Ortuzar told Radio Cooperativa.

With the aim of 'observing to later recreate', Ortuzar is using two cameras to film the day to day activities at 'Camp Hope', set up by the families of the men trapped at the San Jose mine, some 830 km north of Santiago.

This weekend he will travel to the mine to discuss with the relatives of the miners about the project, which he has already discussed with writer Hernan Rivera Letelier.

The director said that the film, tentatively titled 'Los 33' (The 33), will focus more 'on the human side', although it will not exclude other angles, like for example the safety failings at the mine and 'how companies make stacks of money'.

'This is the first Chilean tragedy with a happy ending up to this point,' Ortuzar said.

Read on . . .


Monday, September 6, 2010

Chilean Miners Are Rebelling!

It's going to be a long haul underground if the men are already rebelling. According to the article below, they are not following orders and are rejecting food deliveries. I pray that they can get themselves working together before someone just goes off the deep end and hurts someone..
    . . . June


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Miners rebel against living restrictions
The Irish Times - Mon, Sep 06, 2010:JONATHAN FRANKLIN at the San Jose mine, Chile

THE CHILEAN miners trapped in a collapsed mine shaft are starting to rebel against restrictions imposed by their government as they enter their second month below ground.

Family members said the 33 men had protested that the government was censoring letters and restricting information to them during a video conference at the weekend. The miners have also shown increasing independence in recent days as they rejected one food delivery of peaches and continued to drive vehicles around the mine tunnels 700m below ground, disregarding orders not to do so. They are also increasingly vehement in their demands for wine and cigarettes.

Family members said the miners were angry because they had not received much mail. “He totally cursed me out, they are not sending the letters to him,” said the son of trapped miner Victor Zamora. “He is going to blow up down there.” “It is a big problem that they are not getting the letters,” said the nephew of miner Jose Ojeda. “They are very angry.”

Luis Urzua, the leader of the miners, told rescue officials on Saturday that failure to deliver the letters was a major cause of discontent among the trapped men.

Government officials told family members that only letters with positive messages will be delivered. But rescue officials promised to streamline the postal service and create a central log for letters sent and received.

Read On . . .

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Unique challenge For Chilean Miners. Stay Slim For Rescue.

One challenge is that in order for the miners must fit through a rescue hole they must be no more than 45 inches around the waist. Exercise programs are in place for this. Also, NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez said that the space agency, with its long research on aiding astronauts isolated in space, could help the Chileans understand how to provide "psychological support for those trapped
   . .  June

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Chile faces unique challenge in maintaining miners  
Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010

: "COPIAPO, Chile -- In less than a week the 33 miners trapped under Chile's Atacama Desert will have been stuck underground longer than any others in memory - taxing authorities Thursday with unique challenges on coaxing them and their families through the ordeal.
A team of submarine commanders was called in for advice on close-quarters living. NASA is advising on 'life sciences' and giving the men a sense they control their own destinies. Exercise programs are in place so the miners are skinny enough to fit through a rescue hole.

Even a masseuse roams a makeshift camp for the miners' families, relieving tensions with a touch.
All in an effort to confront the unique challenges being faced by all involved to bring the miners out alive.

Extreme patience is seen with each new day that breaks over Camp Hope - where the families of the miners have erected tents, awaiting their loved ones - but there are high expectations for results.

Read More