Just some nice news from australia

gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
edited May 9, 2006 in The Big Picture
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Comments

  • BodwickBodwick Registered Users Posts: 396 Major grins
    edited May 6, 2006
    gus wrote:
    These 2 men (miners) have been entombed for 11 days 1000 feet underground...they were not found for the first few days..the rest of the time has been spent drilling hard rock to get them out. They have been stuck in a work platform boom cage 3 feet x 5 feet due to a small earth quake that caused a cave in.

    The entire country is hoping & expecting them to be free'd tonight sometime.


    Nice thoughts Gus,

    I've been following a number of mine accidents recently. I have a close interest in mine stuff as I used to be a gold miner myself in the 80's.

    Deep underground it's a different world. My mine had a terrible fire just after I left with many dead. Mines are terrible places, I'm now addicted to the open space of deserts, they share the same heat but the roof will not fall and crush you.

    It is the most difficult enviroment on earth and my thoughts go out to all miners everywhere.


    Bod.
    "The important thing is to just take the picture with the lens you have when the picture happens."
    Jerry Lodriguss - Sports Photographer

    Reporters sans frontières
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited May 6, 2006
    These mine accedents really shakes me as my bro is geoscientist i hope those two miners remain safe and join their family soon
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

    My Gallery
  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited May 6, 2006
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  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
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  • StevenVStevenV Registered Users Posts: 1,174 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
    Whew! Thank God.
    clap.gif

    now, why couldn't news.com.au have a better picture? :D
  • ChrisJChrisJ Registered Users Posts: 2,164 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
    That's great! There was an article in the LA Time this morning that reported the rescue tunnel needed to be reinforced before drilling the last meter or so.

    Glad they are safe.
    Chris
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
    iloveyou.gifclap.gif great news
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

    My Gallery
  • SeamusSeamus Registered Users Posts: 1,573 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
    gus wrote:
    They were just freed. 14 days at 3000 feet...you'd be looking for a hamburger & the sun i'd recon.

    I'm glad to hear it ended well thumb.gif ,, they have earned a few pints.
  • mereimagemereimage Registered Users Posts: 448 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
    Seamus wrote:
    I'm glad to hear it ended well thumb.gif ,, they have earned a few pints.

    What a terrifying experience............Mereimage
  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
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  • arroyosharkarroyoshark Registered Users Posts: 191 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
    Gus, that is some good news. Saw on the news where they walked out of the elevator cage on their own. bravo!

    These are terrible incidents but it tends to draw communities and countries together for common good.
    Available light is any damn light that's available -W. Eugene Smith
  • gusgus Registered Users Posts: 16,209 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2006
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  • arroyosharkarroyoshark Registered Users Posts: 191 Major grins
    edited May 9, 2006
    gus wrote:
    wow...didnt know it was world news. They reported that the miners (their work mates) said the tunnel they had to dig to get to them was the hardest rock any of them had ever encountered thus several days delay. They said it was 5 times harder than concrete.

    I know nothing about mining but they are called 'hard rock gold' miners so i assume thats very different to coal miners etc.

    Just watching their young childrens faces whilst the rescue was being carried out was enough for me. They had kids about 10 years old & everyone was expecting the worst for the 5 days initially before contact was made. The kids were so excited.

    Our national news networks reported that the two miners survived because they got to a protective cage. After it was determined they were alive, a small tunnel was drilled horizontally from an adjacent drift to get them food, water and i-pods. The news mentioned delays due to extremely hard rock. What an ordeal for their families.
    Available light is any damn light that's available -W. Eugene Smith
  • nokout3839nokout3839 Registered Users Posts: 75 Big grins
    edited May 9, 2006
    Theyre Out
    Our national news networks reported that the two miners survived because they got to a protective cage. After it was determined they were alive, a small tunnel was drilled horizontally from an adjacent drift to get them food, water and i-pods. The news mentioned delays due to extremely hard rock. What an ordeal for their families.

    Just in case anyone missed it, theyre out and having a drink at the local pub in memory of the mate they lost.

    Cheers. Nigel

    All care but no responsibility

  • BodwickBodwick Registered Users Posts: 396 Major grins
    edited May 9, 2006
    gus wrote:
    wow...didnt know it was world news. They reported that the miners (their work mates)
    I know nothing about mining but they are called 'hard rock gold' miners so i assume thats very different to coal miners etc.
    .

    Great news.

    A brief outline of a mine.

    Solid rock. With a small band of gold hidden in two to maybe ten cm's of valued 'stuff' gold ore that looks like black pebbles. With a roof a max of 1.2m above your head at an angle of 45 degrees in +30c at 90+% humidity. This is the 'face'.
    Coal is often a huge 'face' rather than a few cm's. You would not mine 10cm of coal but would if it was 10m.

    Get as little normal rock up to the surface as possible for maximum return. Drill holes with 3m drill bits on numatic drills, fill with explosives, wire together, head to the surface and blast. Go down and clear away by hand then start all over again.

    The roof pop's with the pressure, held up by piles of stacked logs, everything is shattered rock fragments that are very sharp and cut your hands.
    Pitch black, turn off your headlamp and you can see nothing one inch from your eye.
    Water and air. All you need to mine. Air drills and water cooling and washing down of the dust that will kill you just as surely as a roof fall only much slower.



    Nightmares come from deep underground.....

    My own history.
    Disaster in a Gold Mine


    Monday, Sep. 29, 1986 Some 2,400 miners were on the day shift last Tuesday morning at the Kinross gold mine, 65 miles from Johannesburg.
    A welding team was repairing a broken track for one of the trains that help carry gold ore to the surface. Suddenly, an acetylene tank sparked and flared.
    Flames swept through the tunnel, igniting plastic-covered wiring, which in turn set fire to polyurethane foam that keeps the walls dry and solid.
    Within minutes the mine shaft filled with thick black smoke containing toxic fumes from the burning plastic.
    Choking miners immediately fell and died of asphyxiation. When the initial 9 1/2-hour rescue operation ended, 177 were dead, one was missing, and 235 were injured, making Kinross the worst gold-mine disaster in South African history.

    All but five of the victims were black, and the black-dominated National Union of Mineworkers denounced the "unacceptably low safety standards" in the mines. In fact, Kinross last year lost its top safety rating. But the mine's general manager said the plastics that burned had been considered safe. A government investigation is now under way.




    Glad the Aussies made it out.
    Bod...
    friday.gif
    "The important thing is to just take the picture with the lens you have when the picture happens."
    Jerry Lodriguss - Sports Photographer

    Reporters sans frontières
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