Miners, engineers prepare for months-long operation

August 24, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

SANTIAGO, Chile

The rescue of the 33 miners trapped nearly a half-mile below the ground in northern Chile is set to be a technical and human odyssey always threatened by the possibility of new collapses.

The mood was good Monday a day after the miners, who have been trapped since the shaft they were working in collapsed Aug. 5, were confirmed to be alive. Rescue teams finally reached them via a small hole through which they could pass messages and see the miners with a camera.

But the engineers in charge of the challenging operation stressed Monday that the copper mine in San Jose de Copiapo, in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, remains very unstable in the face of geological faults and of underground water.

“What we are going to do is a vertical excavation. That’s the quickest thing, with mechanical equipment,” head engineer Andre Sougarret said Monday.

The operation, which could take three to four months, was set to start today.

The machine is to make an initial hole with a diameter of about 10 inches, which later will be enlarged to 26 inches. That space would be enough to pull the miners up to the surface.

Drilling is set to advance some 15 meters per day, so that miners could be back home for Christmas, said engineer Miguel Fort.

But drilling that vertical 700-meter hole solves only part of the problem. Rescue teams also have to finish drilling three further holes, about 4 inches wide, through which they are to provide the miners with food, water and, above all, moral support.

“Psychological support will be key to the miners’ health,” said psychologists working with rescue teams.

Being locked up for weeks 700 meters below the ground, in a humid, warm and dark habitat, can cause depression, panic attacks and various further problems that make survival more difficult for the miners.