COPIAPO, Chile — Engineers in charge of rescuing 33 trapped miners stressed Monday that the copper mine in San Jose de Copiapo, in northern Chile, remains unstable in the face of geological faults and underground water.
“What we are going to do is a vertical excavation,” said head engineer Andre Sougarret. “That’s the quickest thing”
The operation, which could take three to four months, was set to start today. Xtrata, a state-of-the-art drill brought in from South Africa, will make an initial hole with a diameter of about 10 inches, which will later be enlarged to 26 inches. That space would be enough to pull the miners up to the surface.
Drilling is expected to advance about 50 feet per day, so that miners could be back home for Christmas, said engineer Miguel Fort. McClatchy Newspapers
