Chile miners are heroes, but fame can be fleeting

AP


Miners' rescue expected Wednesday Play Video Reuters – Miners' rescue expected Wednesday

* Chile Mine Rescue Efforts Slideshow:Chile Mine Rescue Efforts
* Rescue effort in Chile Play Video Video:Rescue effort in Chile CBC.ca


Patricio Sepulveda AP – Patricio Sepulveda, a corporal of the police special operations unit, smiles after arriving at the San …
By EVA VERGARA and MICHAEL WARREN, Associated Press Writers Eva Vergara And Michael Warren, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 12 mins ago

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – A torrent of emotions awaits the 33 miners when they finally rejoin the outside world.

As trying as it has been for them to survive underground for more than two months, their gold and copper mine is familiar territory. Once out of the shaft, they'll face challenges so bewildering, no amount of coaching can fully prepare them.

They'll be celebrated at first, embraced by their families and pursued by more than 750 journalists who have converged on the mine, competing for interviews and images to feed to a world intensely curious to hear their survival story.

They've been invited to visit presidential palaces, take all-expense paid vacations and appear on countless TV shows.

Contracts for book and movie deals are pending, along with job offers. More money than they could dream of is already awaiting their signature.

Right now they are true heroes. Some will become celebrities if they want to. But eventually, a new reality will set in — and for most, it won't be anything like the life they knew before the mine collapsed above their heads.

"Before being heroes, they are victims," University of Santiago psychologist Sergio Gonzalez told The Associated Press.

"These people who are coming out of the bottom of the mine are different people ... and their families are too."

A tentative but secret list has been drafted regarding which miners should come out first when the extraction begins in a rescue capsule, probably on Wednesday.

One by one they will take a twisting, 20-minute ride for 2,041 feet (622 meters) up to a rock-strewn desert moonscape and into the embrace of those they love. The capsule is expected to rotate 350 degrees some 10 to 12 times through curves in the 28-inch-wide (71-centimeter-wide) escape hole on its way up.

Workers on Monday finished installing steel tubing to reinforce the top 295 feet (90 meters) of that shaft, said Navy Cmdr. Renato Navarro, who oversees part of the rescue operation. The next step: a platform above the shaft to support the rescue capsule.

Chile's government has promised each miner at least six months of psychological support.

Click image to see photos of the rescue efforts


Reuters/Ivan Alvarado/File

"All of them will have to confront the media and fame, and will encounter families that aren't the same as when they were trapped," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said. "All of them will live through very difficult situations of adaptation."

At first they'll feel besieged, poorly treated by the media and perhaps overwhelmed by even the attention of their own families, predicted Dr. Claus Behn, a University of Chile physiologist with expertise on disorders stemming from surviving extreme situations. Society will "demand to know every minute detail, and they're going to offer enormous quantities of money and popularity."

The problem with being a hero is that "if you look down from the mountaintop, all you see is the abyss. It would make anyone feel vertigo,"

Behn said.

The miners have had the support of a team of psychologists while underground, but that was designed mostly to help them endure the extreme conditions.

Last week, they also got an hour a day of training in dealing with the media, including practice with "ugly, bad and indiscreet" questions about their time underground, their personal lives and their families, said Alejandro Pino, a former reporter who was part of a support team provided by Chile's workplace insurance association.

"I see them doing extraordinarily well," Pino said. "They're ready."

The miners do seem happy in videos they filmed and sent to the surface. Some even joked around as they showed off their underground home.

But others have avoided the exposure. And while Manalich insists that the miners are unified, reflecting the disciplined teamwork that helped them survive, all that could change quickly once they are out.

Already, relations within and between their families have become strained as some seem to be getting more money and attention than others.

A philanthropic Chilean mining executive, Leonardo Farkas, gave $10,000 checks in the miners' names to each of the 33 families, and set up a fund to collect donations. Co-workers who weren't trapped, but were left out of a job — including some who narrowly escaped getting crushed in the collapse — wonder if they'll be taken care of, too.

One miner's child was invited onto a Chilean TV game show where she earned thousands of dollars, and 27 of the 33 workers have filed a $10 million negligence lawsuit against the mine's owners. A similar suit against government regulators is planned. And then there are deals for books, movies and personal appearances.

The money rush will be intense — and temporary. The government required each miner to designate someone to receive their $1,600 monthly salary, and opened bank accounts for them that only the miners themselves can access. But Behn said the miners need good financial advice as well so that it doesn't melt away.

"If they're getting now a violent inflow of money, it should be administered so that it can serve them for the rest of their lives. And meanwhile, they should not for any reason give up their regular work habits," Behn said.

What often happens after situations of extreme isolation is that the survivor tells everything all at once, and when there's nothing left to say, misunderstandings begin. Instead, Behn advises taking things slowly, gradually reuniting with family and friends and trying to contain their expectations. Otherwise, "they're going to have really emotional storms that won't do anybody any good."

Manalich said the miners seem incredibly unified. Some of their relatives also expressed hope that the bonds they've formed below will enable them to lean on each other in the future.

Brandon Fisher doubts that.

Fisher, president of Center Rock, Inc., has been closely involved in this rescue — his company's drill hammers pounded the escape shaft.

His hammers also helped save nine men in Pennsylvania in the Quecreek Mine disaster in 2002. They, too, came out of the hole blinking in the glare of TV cameras, and received intense media attention at first. But in some cases, their friendships and family relationships didn't hold up to the pressure.

"They're in for the surprise of their lives. From here on out, their lives will have changed," Fisher predicted. "There aren't too many of those guys who get along because of all the attention, the lawsuits, the movie deals. Once money gets involved it gets ugly."


=====


By EVA VERGARA and MICHAEL WARREN, Associated Press Writers Eva Vergara And Michael Warren, Associated Press Writers – 43 mins ago

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – The engineer leading Chilean rescue efforts says his team has successfully tested a rescue capsule nearly all the way down to where the miners are trapped.

Andres Sougarett says the empty capsule descended 2,000 feet (610 meters), just 46 feet (14 meters) short of the chamber where 33 miners have been trapped since an Aug. 5 collapse.

He said all would be in place at midnight Tuesday to begin the rescue.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters Monday that the capsule performed very well in the hole — that it didn't even loosen any dust. He did not say why the capsule did not go to the bottom.

The steel capsule was lowered by winch into the hole after its top 295 feet (90 meters) were encased in tubing.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AP) — A torrent of emotions awaits the 33 miners when they finally rejoin the outside world.

As trying as it has been for them to survive underground for more than two months, their gold and copper mine is familiar territory. Once out of the shaft, they'll face challenges so bewildering, no amount of coaching can fully prepare them.

They'll be celebrated at first, embraced by their families and pursued by more than 750 journalists who have converged on the mine, competing for interviews and images to feed to a world intensely curious to hear their survival story.

They've been invited to visit presidential palaces, take all-expense paid vacations and appear on countless TV shows.

Contracts for book and movie deals are pending, along with job offers. More money than they could dream of is already awaiting their signature.

Click image to see photos of the rescue efforts


Reuters/Ivan Alvarado/File

Right now they are true heroes. Some will become celebrities if they want to. But eventually, a new reality will set in — and for most, it won't be anything like the life they knew before the mine collapsed above their heads.

"Before being heroes, they are victims," University of Santiago psychologist Sergio Gonzalez told The Associated Press. "These people who are coming out of the bottom of the mine are different people ... and their families are too."

A tentative but secret list has been drafted regarding which miners should come out first when the extraction begins in a rescue capsule, probably on Wednesday.

One by one they will take a twisting, 20-minute ride for 2,041 feet (622 meters) up to a rock-strewn desert moonscape and into the embrace of those they love. The capsule is expected to rotate 350 degrees some 10 to 12 times through curves in the 28-inch-wide (71-centimeter-wide) escape hole on its way up.

Workers on Monday finished installing steel tubing to reinforce the top 295 feet (90 meters) of that shaft, said Navy Cmdr. Renato Navarro, who oversees part of the rescue operation. The next step: a platform above the shaft to support the rescue capsule.

Chile's government has promised each miner at least six months of psychological support.

"All of them will have to confront the media and fame, and will encounter families that aren't the same as when they were trapped," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said. "All of them will live through very difficult situations of adaptation."

At first they'll feel besieged, poorly treated by the media and perhaps overwhelmed by even the attention of their own families, predicted Dr. Claus Behn, a University of Chile physiologist with expertise on disorders stemming from surviving extreme situations. Society will "demand to know every minute detail, and they're going to offer enormous quantities of money and popularity."

The problem with being a hero is that "if you look down from the mountaintop, all you see is the abyss. It would make anyone feel vertigo," Behn said.

The miners have had the support of a team of psychologists while underground, but that was designed mostly to help them endure the extreme conditions.

Last week, they also got an hour a day of training in dealing with the media, including practice with "ugly, bad and indiscreet" questions about their time underground, their personal lives and their families, said Alejandro Pino, a former reporter who was part of a support team provided by Chile's workplace insurance association.

"I see them doing extraordinarily well," Pino said. "They're ready."

The miners do seem happy in videos they filmed and sent to the surface. Some even joked around as they showed off their underground home.

But others have avoided the exposure. And while Manalich insists that the miners are unified, reflecting the disciplined teamwork that helped them survive, all that could change quickly once they are out.

Already, relations within and between their families have become strained as some seem to be getting more money and attention than others.

A philanthropic Chilean mining executive, Leonardo Farkas, gave $10,000 checks in the miners' names to each of the 33 families, and set up a fund to collect donations. Co-workers who weren't trapped, but were left out of a job — including some who narrowly escaped getting crushed in the collapse — wonder if they'll be taken care of, too.

One miner's child was invited onto a Chilean TV game show where she earned thousands of dollars, and 27 of the 33 workers have filed a $10 million negligence lawsuit against the mine's owners. A similar suit against government regulators is planned. And then there are deals for books, movies and personal appearances.

The money rush will be intense — and temporary. The government required each miner to designate someone to receive their $1,600 monthly salary, and opened bank accounts for them that only the miners themselves can access. But Behn said the miners need good financial advice as well so that it doesn't melt away.

"If they're getting now a violent inflow of money, it should be administered so that it can serve them for the rest of their lives. And meanwhile, they should not for any reason give up their regular work habits," Behn said.

What often happens after situations of extreme isolation is that the survivor tells everything all at once, and when there's nothing left to say, misunderstandings begin. Instead, Behn advises taking things slowly, gradually reuniting with family and friends and trying to contain their expectations. Otherwise, "they're going to have really emotional storms that won't do anybody any good."

Manalich said the miners seem incredibly unified. Some of their relatives also expressed hope that the bonds they've formed below will enable them to lean on each other in the future.

Brandon Fisher doubts that.

Fisher, president of Center Rock, Inc., has been closely involved in this rescue — his company's drill hammers pounded the escape shaft.

His hammers also helped save nine men in Pennsylvania in the Quecreek Mine disaster in 2002. They, too, came out of the hole blinking in the glare of TV cameras, and received intense media attention at first. But in some cases, their friendships and family relationships didn't hold up to the pressure.

"They're in for the surprise of their lives. From here on out, their lives will have changed," Fisher predicted. "There aren't too many of those guys who get along because of all the attention, the lawsuits, the movie deals. Once money gets involved it gets ugly."


=============



Miners' kin struggle with jealousy, rivalries
AP


Alberto Segovia, brother of trapped miner Dario Segovia, and his daughter Carla Belgica, stand at the relatives camp outside the San Jose mine, near C AP – Alberto Segovia, brother of trapped miner Dario Segovia, and his daughter Carla Belgica, stand at the …

* Chile Mine Rescue Efforts Slideshow:Chile Mine Rescue Efforts
* Chile rescuers test run capsule Play Video Video:Chile rescuers test run capsule Reuters
* The Conversation: On the Ground in Chile Play Video Video:The Conversation: On the Ground in Chile ABC News

By VIVIAN SEQUERA, Associated Press Writer Vivian Sequera, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 5 mins ago

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – The dusty curve fronting the copper and gold mine where 33 men have been trapped alive underground since early August may be called "Camp Hope."

But it also has been a bevy of intrigue (A group of animals or birds), envy and rivalries that have divided the miners' relatives holding vigil here — just as their shared plight unites them.

With the miners' exit from their underground prison scheduled for as early as Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, the mood was less of merrymaking than of exhaustion and frazzled nerves.

"Here the tension is higher than down below. Down there they are calm," said Veronica Ticona, sister of 29-year-old Ariel Ticona, a trapped rubble-removal machine operator.

After 68 days of shared fears and jitters — all of it under the close scrutiny of dozens of reporters that have now grown to a battalion — the early fellowship has frayed. Some relationships, once at least cordial, are as hostile as the desolate sands of the surrounding Acatama desert.

Relatives privately shared stories of the divisiveness with an Associated Press reporter who spent the past month at the camp, frequently bedding down in a tent beside theirs, sharing coffee and gossip.

The feuds and jealousies within families centered on such matters as who got to take part in weekend videoconferences with the miners, who received letters and why — or even who should speak to the media and how much they should be revealing about a family's interior life.

Click image to see photos of the rescue efforts


AFP/Mining Ministry

Some relatives complained about distant kin seeking the international media limelight, giving interviews about trapped miners they barely know.

Then there are those who, despite only distant blood ties to miners, lined up for donated gifts including sexy lingerie, bottles of wine and electronic toys and Halloween costumes for children.
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Video: Political news of the day -- 60 secs at a time



There were even fights over who constitutes a close relative — or even a miner's preferred conjugal companion.

So Alberto Iturra, the chief of the psychology team advising the trapped men, decided that after each miner rides an escape capsule to daylight in an extraction operation expected to begin sometime Tuesday the rescued man will meet with between one and three people whom the miner has personally designated.
Then there is the question of money.

It has already strained relations between families as some seem to be getting more than others, including from some news media, who outnumber the miners' relations several fold.

Cognizant of the emotional toll, Iturra recommended Monday that the relatives leave the mine, go home and get some rest.

"I explained to the families that the only way one can receive someone is to first be home to open the door," Iturra said.

The dramatic endgame was hastening as the rescuers finished reinforcing the escape shaft early Monday and the 13-foot (four-meter)-tall rescue chamber descended flawlessly nearly all the way to the trapped men in a series of test runs.

Iturra said he recommended the extractions begin at dawn Wednesday. No official decision was announced, but Andre Sougarret, the rescue team coordinator, tweeted Monday evening that "today the miners sleep their last night together!"

Officials said publicly that it would begin after Tuesday midnight but one senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by the press, said the extractions could begin four hours earlier.

On Monday, the Phoenix I capsule — the biggest of three built by Chilean navy engineers, named for the mythic bird that rose from ashes — made its first test runs after the top 180 feet (55 meters) of the shaft were lined with steel pipe, the rescue leader said.

Then the empty capsule was winched down 2,000 feet (610 meters), just 40 feet (12 meters) short of the shaft system that has been the miners' refuge since an Aug. 5 collapse.

"We didn't send it (all the way) down because we could risk that someone will jump in,"

a grinning Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters.

Engineers had planned to extend the piping nearly twice as far, but they decided to stop after the sleeve — the hole is angled 11 degrees off vertical at its top before plumbing down, like a waterfall — became jammed during a probe.

Iturra said he recommended the first man be pulled out at dawn because the miners are to be taken by Chilean air force helicopters to the nearby city of Copiapo and fog tends to enshroud the mine at night.

It is a roughly 10-minute flight, said Lt. Col. Aldo Carbone, the choppers' squadron commander. He said the pilots have night-vision goggles but will not fly unless it is clear. Ambulances will be ready for backup. The drive would take about an hour.

Officials have drawn up a secret list of which miners should come out first, but the order could change after paramedics and a mining expert first descend in the capsule to evaluate the men and oversee the journey upward.

First out will be the four miners fittest of frame and mind, health minister Jaime Manalich said. Should glitches occur, these men will be best prepared to ride them out and tell their comrades what to expect.

Next will be 10 who are weakest or ill. One miner suffers from hypertension. Another is a diabetic, and others have dental and respiratory infections or skin lesions from the mine's oppressive humidity.

The last out is expected to be Luiz Urzua, who was shift chief when the men became entombed, several family members of miners told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because they did not want to upset government officials.

The men will take a twisting, 20-minute ride to the surface. It should take about an hour for the rescue capsule to make a round trip, Aguilar told the AP.

Plans called for the media to be blocked by a screen from viewing the miners when they reach the surface. A media platform has been set up more than 300 feet (90 meters) away from the mouth of the hole.

After being extracted, the miners will be ushered through inflatable tunnels, like the ones used in sports stadiums, to ambulances that will take them to a triage station.

Once cleared by doctors there, they are to be taken to another area where they'll be reunited with the chosen family members. Next stop: a heliport and the flight to Copiapo.

At the hospital, all the miners will be kept for 48 hours of observation that will begin when the last one exits the escape shaft.

___

Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report.


==========
Chile choreographs dramatic finish to rescue saga




By MICHAEL WARREN, Associated Press Writer Michael Warren, Associated Press Writer – 21 mins ago

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – A missile-like escape capsule was lowered into a nearly half-mile tunnel in the Chilean desert Tuesday night to carry 33 miners to fresh air and freedom after 69 days — the longest anyone has ever been trapped underground and survived.

Steam rushed from the hole into the frigid night air — a sign of the humid, sauna-like conditions the men have endured in the gold and copper mine.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera patted the side of the custom-built capsule proudly as the last act of the mine collapse ordeal approached.

"We made a promise to never surrender, and we kept it,"

Pinera said as he waited to greet the miners, whose endurance and unity captivated the world as Chile meticulously prepared their rescue.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said he hoped the first of the miners would still emerge before midnight, a slow process because of the need for methodical testing with a rescue worker inside once all the cables are attached and tested.

A mine rescue expert will be lowered in the capsule and raised again to test it, and then that rescuer and a navy special forces paramedic will be lowered to the men to prepare them for the trip. Only then can the first miner be pulled to safety. It is expected to take as many as 36 hours for the last miner to be rescued.

Families and reporters huddled around TVs and bonfires as the preliminary rescue order was announced. Florencio Avalos, the 31-year-old second-in-command of the miners, was to be the first miner out.

Click image to see photos of the rescue efforts


AP/Natacha Pisarenko

Avalos has been so shy that he volunteered to handle the camera rescuers sent down so he wouldn't have to appear on the videos that the miners sent up.

The last miner out is also decided: Shift foreman Luis Urzua, whose leadership was credited for helping the men endure 17 days with no outside contact after the collapse. The men made 48 hours' worth of rations last that entire time before rescuers could drill holes to them and send down more food.

Janette Marin, sister-in-law of miner Dario Segovia, said the order of rescue didn't matter. "What matters is that he is getting out, that they are all getting out.

"This won't be a success unless they all get out," she added, echoing the solidarity that the miners and people across Chile have expressed.

The paramedics can change the order of rescue based on a brief medical check once they're in the mine. First out will be those best able to handle any difficulties and tell their comrades what to expect. Then, the weakest and the ill — in this case, about 10 suffer from hypertension, diabetes, dental and respiratory infections and skin lesions from the mine's oppressive humidity. The last should be people who are both physically fit and strong of character.

Chile has taken extensive precautions to ensure the miners' privacy, using a screen to block the top of the shaft from the more than 1,000 journalists at the scene.

The miners will be ushered through an inflatable tunnel, like those used in sports stadiums, to an ambulance for a trip of several hundred yards (meters) to a triage station for a medical check. They will gather with a few relatives in an area also closed to the media, before being taken by helicopter to a hospital.

Each ride up the shaft is expected to take about 20 minutes, and authorities expect they can haul up one miner per hour. When the last man surfaces, it promises to end a national crisis that began when 700,000 tons of rock collapsed Aug. 5, sealing the miners into the lower reaches of the mine.

The only media allowed to record them coming out of the shaft will be a government photographer and Chile's state TV channel, whose live broadcast will be delayed by 30 seconds or more to prevent the release of anything unexpected. Photographers and camera operators are on a platform more than 300 feet (90 meters) away.

The worst technical problem that could happen, rescue coordinator Andre Sougarett told The Associated Press, is that "a rock could fall," potentially jamming the capsule partly up the shaft.

Panic attacks are the rescuers' biggest concern. The miners will not be sedated — they need to be alert in case something goes wrong. If a miner must get out more quickly, rescuers will accelerate the capsule to a maximum 3 meters per second, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

The rescue attempt is risky simply because no one else has ever tried to extract miners from such depths, said Davitt McAteer, who directed the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration in the Clinton administration. A miner could get claustrophobic (Uncomfortably closed or hemmed in.) and do something to damage the capsule. Or a falling rock could wedge it in the shaft. Or the cable could get hung up. Or the rig that pulls the cable could overheat.

"You can be good and you can be lucky. And they've been good and lucky," McAteer told the AP. "Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours."

Golborne, whose management of the crisis has made him a media star in Chile, said authorities had already thought of everything.

"There is no need to try to start guessing what could go wrong. We have done that job," Golborne said. "We have hundreds of different contingencies."

As for the miners, Manalich said, "It remains a paradox — they're actually much more relaxed than we are."

Rescuers finished reinforcing the top of the 2,041-foot (622-meter) escape shaft Monday, and the 13-foot (four-meter) capsule descended flawlessly in tests. The capsule — the biggest of three built by Chilean navy engineers — was named Phoenix I for the mythical bird that rises from ashes. It is painted in the white, blue and red of the Chilean flag.

The miners were to be closely monitored from the moment they're strapped in the capsule. They were given a high-calorie liquid diet donated by NASA, designed to keep them from vomiting as the rescue capsule rotates 10 to 12 times through curves in the 28-inch-diameter escape hole.

A small video camera is in the escape capsule, trained on each miner's face for panic attacks. The miners will wear oxygen masks and have two-way voice communication.



Their pulse, skin temperature and respiration rate will be constantly measured through a biomonitor around their abdomens. To prevent blood clotting from the quick ascent, they took aspirin and will wear compression socks.

The miners will also wear sweaters because they'll experience a shift in climate from about 90 degrees underground to near freezing on the surface after nightfall. Those coming out during daylight hours will wear sunglasses.

Engineers inserted steel piping at the top of the shaft, which is angled 11 degrees off vertical before plunging like a waterfall. Drillers had to curve the shaft to pass through "virgin" rock, narrowly avoiding collapsed areas and underground open spaces in the overexploited mine, which had operated since 1885.

Seconds before each miner surfaces, a siren will sound and a light will flash for a minute to alert doctors to an arriving miner.

After initial medical checks and visits with family members selected by the miners, the men will be flown to the hospital in Copiapo, a 10-minute ride away. Two floors have been prepared where the miners will receive physical and psychological exams and be kept under observation in a ward as dark as a movie theater.

Chilean air force Lt. Col. Aldo Carbone said helicopter pilots have night-vision goggles but won't fly unless it is clear of the thick Pacific Ocean fog that rolls in at night.

Families were urged to wait and prepare to greet the miners at home after a 48-hour hospital stay. Manalich said no cameras or interviews will be allowed until the miners are released, unless the miners expressly desire it.

Neighbors looked forward to barbecues and parties to replace the vigils held since their friends were trapped.

Urzua's neighbors told the AP that he probably insisted on being the last one up.

"He's a very good guy — he keeps everybody's spirits up and is so responsible — he's going to see this through to the end," said neighbor Angelica Vicencio, who has led a nightly vigil outside the Urzua home in Copiapo.

U.S. President Barack Obama praised rescuers, who include many Americans. "While that rescue is far from over and difficult work remains, we pray that by God's grace, the miners will be able to emerge safely and return to their families soon," he said.

Chile has promised that its care of the miners won't end for six months at least — not until they can be sure that each miner has readjusted.

Psychiatrists and other experts in surviving extreme situations predict their lives will be anything but normal.

Since Aug. 22, when a narrow bore hole broke through to their refuge and the miners stunned the world with a note, scrawled in red pen, disclosing their survival, their families have been exposed in ways they never imagined. Miners had to describe their physical and mental health in minute detail with teams of doctors and psychologists. In some cases, when both wives and lovers claimed the same man, everyone involved had to face the consequences.

___

Associated Press writers Frank Bajak and Vivian Sequera contributed to this report.


=====




FACTBOX-Latest developments in the Chile mine rescue
13 Oct 2010 20:38:43 GMT
Source: Reuters
Oct 13 (Reuters) - Twenty-three of the 33 trapped miners have been rescued from a gold and copper mine in Chile's northern Atacama desert in a painstaking operation still under way.

The latest miner to reach the surface was Carlos Bugueno, a former security guard who began working in the mine to save up for a car. He is now ready to return to work as a security guard.

TOP DEVELOPMENTS

* The first rescued miners were hoisted to safety, cheering, punching the air and hugging their families after two months deep underground. [ID:nN13224557]

* The first miner to be freed, Florencio Avalos, was brought to the surface shortly after midnight. Avalos, a 31-year-old father of two, looked very healthy following a nearly 16-minute journey to safety.

ONGOING RESCUE OPERATION

* Rescuers, relatives and friends broke into jubilant cheers as the miners, one by one, emerged from the mine. Nervous wives, children, parents and friends waited on an arid, rocky hillside above the San Jose mine for the men to be evacuated.

* Trapped deep inside the earth for 69 days, Mario Sepulveda never lost his sense of humor, so when he was finally pulled to safety, he brought a souvenir with him -- a bag of rocks. [ID:nN13282080]

* The accident shone a spotlight on lax mining controls in the world's top copper producer, but also highlighted a mature industry that has the machinery and expertise to handle one of the world's most challenging rescues ever. [ID:nN13225847]

* The ordeal began with a cave-in on Aug. 5 that trapped the miners about 2,050 feet (625 meters) underground in the mine near the northern Chilean city of Copiapo, 500 miles (800 km) north of Santiago. [ID:nN13221374]

QUOTE OF THE DAY

* "This is a miracle from God." -- Alberto Avalos, the first rescued miner's uncle.

* "I have been with God and I've been with the devil." -- Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to be pulled from the mine. (Reporting by Brad Haynes)


=========



Chile's rescued miners mum on nightmare experience
16 Oct 2010 05:00:15 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Speculation swirls about book, movie deals

* Rescued workers to return to mine for Sunday ceremony

By Terry Wade and Juana Casas

COPIAPO, Chile, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chile's 33 miners began their first weekend above ground since a rescue that gripped the world, but were keeping silent on many of the hellish details of their 69-day ordeal trapped deep in the earth.

"We are not going to talk about that," said 63-year-old Mario Gomez, the oldest of the workers stuck for more than two months in a northern Chilean copper and gold mine, when asked by reporters about the nightmare experience.

"That's reserved," was the answer to the same question from Ariel Ticona, 29, as he left the hospital where he and the rest of the rescued workers were cared for until most were discharged on Friday.

The miners have became global media stars since their widely watched rescue on Wednesday. Book and movie deals are expected, which could help account for their reluctance to reveal too much about the experience.

They have also been showered with job offers and gifts, including invitations to visit the Greek isles and Graceland as well as attend European soccer matches.

But they are not saying much so far about what it was really like after the Aug. 5 cave-in that left them huddled together in a humid CAVERN 2,050 feet (625 metres) underground.

Reporters will have another try at extracting information from the 33 on Sunday when many of them plan to return to the mine for a ceremony marking their ordeal.

Ticona's third child, "Esperanza", or Hope, was born while he was trapped below. He and others released from the hospital were showered with confetti as they arrived home on Thursday and Friday to jubilant cheers of family and friends.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Full coverage: [ID:nN14104048]

Live rescue video and live blog:

http://live.reuters.com/Event/Chile_Miners_Freed

Graphic of preparations http://link.reuters.com/ryn97p

Graphic of rescue shaft http://link.reuters.com/fat77p

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When the mine caved in, the men were believed to have died in yet another of Latin America's litany of mining accidents. Rescuers found them 2 1/2 weeks later with a bore hole the width of a grapefruit.

That tiny hole became an umbilical cord (Anatomy. The flexible cordlike structure connecting a fetus at the abdomen with the placenta and containing two umbilical arteries and one vein that transport nourishment to the fetus and remove its wastes.)used to pass down hydration gels, water and food to keep them alive until a bigger shaft could be bored to bring them up.

In a complex but flawless operation under Chile's Atacama desert, the miners were hauled out one by one in a metal capsule little wider than a man's shoulders and dubbed "Phoenix" after the mythical bird that rose from the ashes.

The men burned tires in the first days after the mine collapse, hoping the smoke would reach the surface and alert rescuers, and set off explosives in an effort to be heard.

When their reserves of bottled water dwindled to 2 1/2 gallons (10 liters), they began drinking from metal drums of water tainted with motor oil.

"The good thing about being free is that when you have a bad dream you wake up and realize it was a dream," rescued miner Victor Segovia said. "But inside (the mine), we would wake up in the nightmare." (Additional reporting by Esteban Midel in Copiapo, Antonio de la Jara, Fabian Cambero, Brad Haynes and Simon Gardner in Santiago; Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Peter Cooney)


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China mine blast kills 20, others trapped - Xinhua
16 Oct 2010 05:42:28 GMT
Source: Reuters
SHANGHAI, Oct 16 (Reuters) - An explosion in a Chinese coal mine killed at least 20 miners in central Henan Province on Saturday, state media reported.

The accident occurred at 6 a.m. (2200 GMT Friday) in a pit owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Co Ltd based in Yuzhou City and rescue operations were under way, the Xinhua news agency said.

The agency said earlier that more than 30 miners were trapped underground.

The accident comes in the wake of Chile's dramatic rescue of 33 miners trapped for more than two months underground.

China's mines are the deadliest in the world, due to lax safety standards and a rush to feed demand from a robust economy. More than 2,600 people died in coal mine accidents in 2009 alone. (Reporting by Jacqueline Wong; Editing by Alex Richardson)


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By Cesar Illiano

COPIAPO, Chile | Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:03pm EDT

COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) - Chileans have found a new hero in American Jeff Hart, the drill operator who has spent weeks drilling down to where 33 miners have been trapped deep underground for more than two months.

Rescuers finished drilling an escape shaft on Saturday for the men, jumping for joy as the drill pushed through the last inches (cm) of a nearly 2,050 foot-long (625-meter) shaft through which the miners will be hoisted to safety.

"There's an emotion there that I can't describe. It's an amazing thing," said Hart, 40, who government officials praised for his central role in the rescue.

"We finally got there, we fought all this time. We have an avenue now that we can actually rescue these miners ... There's nothing more important that I will ever do,"

Hart told Reuters in an interview at the mine.

Relatives and friends of the miners, who hugged and kissed as news spread that the shaft had been finished, rushed to get their picture taken with Hart, who has worked as a drill operator for the Chilean-based Geotec Boyles Bros company for 24 years.

Geotec was hired to drill one of three rescue holes. Its effort was the first to reach the miners.

It will still take days to hoist the miners to the surface one at a time in special capsules just wider than a man's shoulders, in one of the most complex rescue attempts in mining history.

Hart was helping the U.S. armed forces drill for water in Afghanistan when he was called to help free the trapped Chilean miners stuck far beneath the desert since the mine cave-in 65 days ago.

"Why I got the call I have no idea. We came, we did the job and here we are ... There are other great drilling companies up there, we just had the most luck,"

he said while signing autographs for his new legion of fans.

Hart, a father of two from Denver, Colorado, said the miners would have heard the noise of the drill reaching down to them because rescuers could hear the noise on the other end of the phone line used to contact them.

"They definitely heard the machine," he said.


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Chile rescuers prepare escape shaft for miners exit


By Cesar Illiano

COPIAPO, Chile | Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:08pm EDT

COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) - Chilean rescuers on Sunday reinforced an escape shaft to hoist 33 miners to freedom, bringing their stunning survival story close to its climax two months after they were trapped deep underground.

Engineers have drilled a narrow, nearly 2,050 foot-long (625-meter) shaft to evacuate the men, who have been using explosives to make room for a special capsule dubbed "Phoenix" that will lift them one-by-one to the surface.

The rescuers were inserting metal tubes to line the first 330 feet of the duct to strengthen it, and the government expects to start the evacuation on Wednesday in one of the most complex rescue efforts in mining history.

"If everything goes really well (it might happen on Tuesday) and if things don't go so well, it could ... be Thursday," Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters. "When we said on about Wednesday, it means that -- it depends on the advances and setbacks that occur in such processes."

He said it could take up to two days to hoist all 33 men to the surface.

Celebrations broke out across Chile on Saturday when the drill broke through 65 days after the August 5 collapse at the small gold and copper mine in the far northern Atacama desert.

Drivers honked car horns in the capital of Santiago and people waved flags in towns across a country still recovering from the ravages of a massive February 27 earthquake.

After weeks of prayers, vigils and simply waiting, there was laughter, singing and dancing at the make-shift settlement called Camp Hope that relatives and friends of the miners have set up near the mouth of the mine.

"I'm so happy," said Cristina Nunez, whose partner Claudio Yanez is among the trapped. "I'm going to be able to be with Claudio before October 21 -- my daughter's birthday."

President Sebastian Pinera said he planned to visit the mine on Tuesday.

Among the families waiting is weeks-old baby girl Esperanza, or "Hope," whose father is trapped miner Ariel Ticona. Ticona's wife, Elizabeth, named their daughter after the relatives' encampment.

Ticona saw the birth on a video sent down a narrow bore hole that served as a life line to pass water and food to keep the men alive during the ordeal, and yearns to hold his daughter for the first time.

Once the men are winched to the surface, they will be given astronaut-style medical checks in a field hospital set up at the mine. Then they will be able to spend some time with their families, before being flown by helicopter to nearby Copiapo to be stabilized at another hospital.

The men have set a world record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident.

They are in remarkably good health, although some have developed skin infections. After spending so long below ground in a humid, dimly-lit tunnel, their eyesight will need time to adjust.


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"They're demonstrating a totally admirable attitude, of solidarity and companionship," Health Minister Jaime Manalich told reporters. He said the miners had been volunteering to go last into the capsule rather than fighting to go first.

The government brought in experts from the NASA space agency to help keep the men mentally and physically fit during the rescue, which has gripped the world and drawn messages of support from Pope Benedict and World Cup soccer stars.

(Writing by Simon Gardner and Helen Popper; editing by Philip Barbara and Christopher Wilson)


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U.S. 1872 mining law threatens Grand Canyon - report
15 Apr 2011 20:48

Source: reuters // Reuters


* Report says national parks, forests, monuments at risk

* Mining claims increased sharply on public lands

* Protected zone around Grand Canyon proposed

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. law from the pick-and-shovel days of the Western frontier now threatens natural treasures including Grand Canyon National Park as mining claims on public lands proliferate, an environmental group said on Friday.

The 1872 Mining Law, signed by President Ulysses S. Grant, allows mining companies -- including foreign-owned ones -- to take about $1 billion a year in gold and other metals from public lands without paying a royalty, according to a report by the nonprofit Pew Environment Group.

"The law was enacted ... to encourage the development of the West and ... rewarded those people who trekked across the frontier and gave them the right to mine gold, silver, whatever other valuable metals they could find on public land in unlimited amounts for free, said Pew's Jane Danowitz.

While the law has remained largely unchanged, the mining industry has expanded so that now multinational corporations still enjoy "basically free access to a majority of public lands," Danowitz said in a telephone interview.

She said the government estimates these companies legally take at least $1 billion a year worth of gold, uranium and other metals from public lands without compensating U.S. taxpayers.,"

This contrasts with the oil, gas and coal industries, which have paid royalties to the U.S. Treasury for decades.

As prices for uranium and other metals have risen steeply in the last decade, mining claims near the Grand Canyon and other natural landmarks have soared, according to the report, available online at http://www.pewenvironment.org/uploadedFiles/PEG/Publications/Report/10%20Treasures.pdf .

Federal data show that more than 8,000 mining claims have been staked in national forest and other public land around the Grand Canyon since 2004, an increase of 2,000 percent, while more than two-thirds of the claims on public lands near Yosemite National Park and 99 percent of claims surrounding Arches and Canyonlands in Utah have been staked since 2005.

The report found mining claims have also been staked around Joshua Tree National Park in California, Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in Washington state, Siskiyou Wild Rivers in Oregon, Gila Wilderness in New Mexico and Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado and Utah.
Congressional efforts to overhaul the 1872 Mining Law stalled in 2009, prompting Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to start a process to protect approximately 1 million acres (404,700 hectares) around the Grand Canyon that were threatened by uranium mining operations.The Obama administration called for comment on four versions of this protection plan, and a decision is expected this summer. (Editing by Xavier Briand)