THE 33 miners trapped 700 metres underground in a collapsed mine in Chile are expected to work 12-hour shifts to help dig themselves out because they will be faced with a hail of falling rocks expected to last for months.
The rescue plan calls for a drilling rig, an Australian machine known as a Strata 950, to bore a hole into a chamber astride the workers’ refuge. It will then be enlarged, producing a cascade of rocks and debris.
“Making this hole is easy . . . Though this is a huge machine, it is not particularly difficult to operate,” said one of the rig operators. “It will take time because of the number of metres.”
An estimated 500kg of rocks and other debris will rain down on the gallery floor every hour. The 33 trapped workers are expected to use heavy machinery and shovels to keep the duct clear. With dust already a problem for their eyes and lungs, officials are designing systems to confine the debris and dust away from the main living, cooking and sanitary facilities now being developed for the workers.
“We have asked them to design a map of the area,” said Jaime Malanich, the Chilean minister of health. Then the rescue co-ordinators will try to institute a rigid system of hygiene, exercise, entertainment and communications.
As health officials scramble to keep the trapped miners under constant medical surveillance, one of the men, Johnny Berrios, was named medical co-ordinator.
“He always wanted to be a doctor,” said his wife, Marta Salinas, in her tent by the San José mine. “He reads so much and he really knows everything about medicine. He always would give injections to his mother and was constantly reading about this.”
Chilean rescue leaders have decided that Mr Berrios is the most qualified to administer medicine, co-ordinate patient charts and serve as lead interlocutor for health issues. With the men’s health now stabilising, solid food has been delivered: energy bars were sent down on Wednesday. Given the limitations of the delivery system – a 700m tube no wider than the inside of a toilet roll – ingenious systems are being developed to provide them with as normal an existence as possible. A miniature home-theatre system is ready for delivery, although psychologists are still deciding which movies are appropriate.
Since the disaster, officials have been scouring the country for illegal and unregistered mines. As the world’s leading producer of copper, Chile has experienced a boom over the past decade, with the price skyrocketing. Hundreds of abandoned copper mines not profitable when the price was below $1 per 0.5kg are opening again – both legally and as clandestine operations.
Chilean officials shut down 18 mines following the San José accident. Another 300 are expected to be ordered to close. "I am afraid there is going to be an indiscriminate shutting of small mines," said Luciano Pinto, president of Tierra Amarilla mining association. "We are aware they are going to come in with a hard hand and the result is the small mining operations are going to pay for what the mid-sized mining operations have produced." – ( Guardianservice)