One year later, sinkhole didn't sink Corvette Museum in Kentucky

Thu, Feb 12 15:59 PM EST By Steve Bittenbender LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Reuters) - Officials at the National Corvette Museum will make lemonade out of lemons on Thursday when they mark the one-year anniversary of a sinkhole that damaged or destroyed eight models of the classic sports car but proved a surprising boon for the museum. The sinkhole, which cratered a showroom floor, could have been catastrophic for the Bowling Green, Kentucky, museum. Security camera footage capturing the collapse generated more than 8 million views on YouTube and garnered worldwide media attention. The buzz generated didn't stop there as more than 250,000 people visited the museum last year, representing a 67 percent spike from 2013. That led to a need for more staff, museum spokeswoman Katie Frassinelli said. "We just started having different challenges that we never faced before," she said. "But it was a good thing because it meant additional revenue for the museum." That's why officials are holding a "lemonade toast" to mark the anniversary. Initially, museum officials wanted to get the cars out quickly and safely and make repairs to the museum. But as the story gained traction, visitors were interested in seeing the sinkhole itself. So, Frassinelli said, officials held off on filling the hole until November. That work was completed last month, and the floor is close to being completed and ready for exhibits. No one was injured as the collapse happened early in the morning before the museum opened, but only three of the cars were considered salvageable for restoration. One of them, a 2009 model, will return to the museum Thursday as part of the anniversary event. The ZR1 will be one of more than 80 Corvette models on display at the museum. But museum officials are working to turn the non-restorable lemons into lemonade as well. The destroyed cars will be part of a planned sinkhole exhibit, Frassinelli said. (Reporting by Steve Bittenbender; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Eric Beech) --------------- UPDATE 2-Uralkali prepares to start repair work at damaged potash mine Mon, Nov 24 11:19 AM EST * Says no discussion yet on when production to resume * Sinkhole appeared at a nearby mine (Recasts after company clarification on production) By Natalia Shurmina BEREZNIKI, Russia, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Russia's Uralkali , the world's biggest potash producer, is preparing to start repair work at part of the damaged Solikamsk-2 mine, though it is unclear when output of the fertiliser will restart. Production at the mine was halted last week after an inflow of water at the mine, which accounts for a fifth of the company's output and 3.5 percent of global capacity, and a huge sinkhole appeared at a nearby mine as a result. The sinkhole, stretching 30 by 40 metres and found at an abandoned mine 3.5 km (2 miles) to the east, increased concern about the future of Solikamsk-2. An inflow of water and the resulting sinkhole in 2006 forced another Uralkali operation to shut permanently. The governor of the Perm region where Solikamsk-2 is located said the inflow of water at the mine had "practically stopped" and there was no danger to residents of the area from any possible expansion of the sinkhole. "The possibility of starting work at half of the Solikamsk mine is being discussed," Chief Executive Dmitry Osipov told reporters in Berezniki in the Perm region. Later, the company clarified that this referred to maintenance work, and said there had not been any discussion with authorities about restarting full or partial production at the mine. It quoted Osipov as saying that the company was discussing the possibility of starting "the backfilling of areas which could be considered potentially hazardous". Regional governor Viktor Basargin said: "Fortunately everything is unfolding under a different scenario to a week ago. There is practically no inflow." "We can say today that it's possible to start work at the second mine, up to a level of about 50 percent," Basargin said. Uralkali's Moscow-listed shares pared gains after the company said it was not considering restarting production, and closed up 3.8 percent. Shares in Uralkali fell sharply last week after the water inflow forced the company to halt operations at Solikamsk-2. (Writing By Timothy Heritage and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Jason -------------- Uralkali preparing to restart operations at half of damaged mine - CEO Mon, Nov 24 06:16 AM EST BEREZNIKI, Russia, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Uralkali, the world's biggest potash producer, is preparing to restart operations at half its Solikamsk-2 mine, where work was halted last week after an accident, its chief executive said on Monday. The governor of the Perm region where Solikamsk-2 is located also said the inflow of water at the mine had "practically stopped" and there was no danger to residents of the area, where a large sinkhole has formed. (Reporting By Natalia Shurmina, Writing By Timothy Heritage, editing by Elizabeth Piper) ----------