The drill, hanging at the bottom of the pilot hole, is reached through existing shafts in a mine and then fitted with the machine cutters, which then blast through rock as they are raised. In this case, however, there is no way to get those large cutters to the bottom of the mine; if there was a hole large enough to reach it, the men would already have been rescued.
“The miners are going to have to take out all that material as it falls,” Andres Sougarret, Codelco’s head engineer on the operation, told The Associated Press Sunday in a phone interview. —————————————————————————————- Using August 5th, 2010 as the “birthdate” of the collapse of the main shaft of the San Jose gold and silver mine in northern Chile yields: August 5th, 2010 8 5 2 0 1 0 = 16 = the personal year for the collapse of the main shaft of the San Jose gold and silver mine in northern Chile (from August 5th, 2010 to August 4th, 2011) = Surprises. A second collapse occurred on August 7 when rescuers were trying to gain access via a ventilation shaft, and rescuers were forced to use heavy machinery.
Then much larger machine cutters will slowly grind through that hole, forcing crushed rock to fall down into the mine shaft area near the trapped men. Another option being considered as of August 29th is to use a Schramm T130XD air drill which could possibly complete the drill in 6 weeks.
Failure to keep the bottom clear of debris could quickly plug the hole, delaying a rescue that officials say could take three to four months. from: —————————————————————————————- using the number/letter grid: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Franklin Lobos 6 3 1 his primary challenge = FL = 63 = Compassion.
On Sunday, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne reiterated the government’s estimate of three to four months to rescue the men, rejecting local reports citing engineers who said it could be done in much less time.
Golborne said that experts had analyzed 10 different methods to get the men out, will continue to study other options, but that “nothing has yet been found that will be quicker.” Normally, after completing a pilot hole, the opening is enlarged by drilling from the bottom up.