View Full Version : 29 miners trapped in NZ
http://www.smh.com.au/world/rescue-team-still-waiting-to-head-into-nz-coal-mine-20101120-181ct.html
Let's hope they are all OK and get out safely soon.
Castout
11-19-10, 09:46 PM
Mining is dangerous job.
the_tyrant
11-19-10, 09:55 PM
Mining is dangerous job.
+1
robots should be doing this
kiwi_2005
11-19-10, 10:01 PM
Mining is dangerous job.
and pays good money.
I just found out about this from tajaks post, off to read more about it, have a relative who is a minerals miner in the east coast of NZ no where near where these guys are trapped though.
Doesn't look good.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10688949
Takeda Shingen
11-19-10, 10:55 PM
Another one? Hell and damnation, this is too much.
krashkart
11-19-10, 10:58 PM
Heard about it on the news this morning.
Castout
11-20-10, 01:10 AM
+1
robots should be doing this
+1+1 for that :salute:
and pays good money.
Of course it pays good money otherwise no one would be willing to take the job. Riskier jobs inherently pay above average. The riskier the more it pays. There's a reason to that. :03:
Smiley added because I didn't mean my reply to be taken to be negative in tone. I really don't. Cross my heart.
Positive vibes being sent Kiwi.
Castout
11-20-10, 03:05 AM
Umm I didn't mean my reply to be negative Frank not at all but somehow it occured to me that they are sounding negative :DL
antikristuseke
11-20-10, 03:20 AM
+1
robots should be doing this
More unemployment world wide is exactly what we need.
Castout
11-20-10, 03:41 AM
More unemployment world wide is exactly what we need.
Remote controlled cough cough cough :DL
kiwi_2005
11-20-10, 03:47 AM
Umm I didn't mean my reply to be negative Frank not at all but somehow it occured to me that they are sounding negative :DL
Mate I don't see your replies in this thread as being negative & your right it comes with good pay cause it is a dangerous job. :)
Castout
11-20-10, 03:56 AM
Mate I don't see your replies in this thread as being negative & your right it comes with good pay cause it is a dangerous job. :)
:salute:
kiwi_2005
11-20-10, 04:14 AM
Aust experts arriving in NZ :yeah:
A sizeable team of Australian mine safety experts and equipment is arriving in New Zealand.
A technical expert from Emergency Management Australia and eight New South Wales mining experts have been joined by four other mining experts from Queensland.
The Queensland team includes two experienced gas chemists, an expert on whole-of-mine gas monitoring systems and a mine ventilation expert.
The equipment includes sophisticated gas monitoring systems developed by the Queensland government's safety-in-mines testing and research station at Redbank.
Two Australians are among the 29 men trapped in the West Coast mine and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says sending the team is about helping out kiwi mates, as well as looking after their own.
The Australian Consul General and staff have been sent to the West Coast.
The 29 Miners: 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two Britons and one South African.
krashkart
11-20-10, 06:06 AM
Fingers crossed and prayers done.
according to a swedish newspaper there isnt any lifesigns from them anymore, Hope it turns out ok.
Jimbuna
11-21-10, 02:57 PM
according to a swedish newspaper there isnt any lifesigns from them anymore, Hope it turns out ok.
Yep, here's hoping and praying.
kiwi_2005
11-22-10, 12:55 AM
They are most likely dead.:nope: Here's hoping the experts are wrong.
Rescue team can't go in till the methane gas clears otherwise they could all die from another explosion. There are gas pockets throughout the 2.5 km tunnel.
A West Coast geologist warned about the threat of explosions from gas in the Pike River mine more than three years ago. And a second mining expert says initial investigations of the mine were inhibited because of its location in Paparoa National Park.
Meanwhile, Canterbury University geologist David Bell has admitted his fears for the 29 trapped men, saying: "I don't believe the guys down there have got a hope."
Western Exploration director Murray Cave said in 2007 that the geological risks at the underground site included a pit bottom with deep, highly gassy coals and the associated risk of "outburst", or gas explosions.
He warned of the presence of an underground fault that had to be crossed at the mine site and pointed to Solid Energy's short-lived Mt Davy mine, which was shut in 1998 after three miners were killed in two accidents.
Yesterday, Mr Cave said the Pike River coal was at the "higher end of the scale" for gaseousness, and each tonne contained about 10 cubic metres of gas.
The head of New South Wales' mining engineering school Professor Bruce Hebblewhite said extensive work was done before mines started operating to determine methane quantities.
Levels varied depending on the depth of the coal seam and how permeable it was – which affected how easy it was for the gas to escape.
Sometimes methane could be drained before mining started, but it was more usual for ventilation systems to be used. "Every mine is dealing with it all the time."
As methane was highly explosive, electricity supplies were tripped so power was turned off if concentrations of the gas rose.
"You need it to be 1 per cent and below to be really safe. Then you enter the explosive range."
He added that the presence of the Hawera fault zone running through the mine could be an additional source of methane.
However, measuring and predicting the methane content in advance of mining would have been incredibly difficult.
"If it's localized pockets it's like looking for a needle in a haystack to drill in."
Canterbury University engineering and mining geologist David Bell also said the fault running through the mineshaft allowed pockets of methane to build up.
"It seems to me that there's been a significant methane explosion underground. I don't believe the guys down there have got a hope – I've got to be perfectly honest, it's most unlikely somebody has managed to survive that, but I hope like hell they all survived.
"You have got to remember they are 2.5 kilometers in from the portal. They don't have a lot of exits. Once you have a fire you starve that place of oxygen."
The Hawera Fault had traps and pockets where methane could collect in splintered coal seams, Mr Bell said. "The early work on Pike suggested it was a very simple situation where basement rocks were thrust up over the coal seam, but the reality they found was there were splinters that had not been picked [up].
"They didn't do a whole lot of [investigative] drilling earlier on because it was inside a national park, so you have very tight restrictions on where you can go and what you can do."
krashkart
11-22-10, 07:08 AM
Aw man. :nope:
frau kaleun
11-22-10, 09:01 AM
That doesn't sound good.
Still hoping for the best until we know for sure.
Platapus
11-22-10, 07:16 PM
In times like this, you hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
The important thing is to press on with the rescue effort. They deserve any chance they can get. :yep:
frau kaleun
11-22-10, 10:50 PM
In times like this, you hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
The important thing is to press on with the rescue effort. They deserve any chance they can get. :yep:
Amen to that.
The rescue effort has stalled with a robot breaking down after only travelling 500m into the tunnel.
Jimbuna
11-23-10, 08:13 AM
Can't be uch hope of a successful outcome now :nope:
The situation is not looking good: http://www.smh.com.au/world/new-blast-all-miners-feared-dead-20101124-1862p.html
Hope has almost completely expired.
Castout
11-24-10, 05:27 AM
Heard that too from the local tv here this noon.
papa_smurf
11-24-10, 07:15 AM
Not looking good for the outcome, as this morning BBC news reported there was a second explosion in the mine.
Very bleak - looking like the end of the road here :cry:
Jimbuna
11-25-10, 07:05 AM
LATEST: A day of mourning.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/25/new.zealand.miners/
kiwi_2005
11-26-10, 03:34 AM
LATEST: A day of mourning.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/25/new.zealand.miners/
Yeah pretty sad, I can't help thinking what if? I read that the best time for the rescue would of been straight after the first gas explosion where the rescue team would of had a 40min to 1hr window:hmmm:
So far 2 million in donations has been raised for the families of the victims at least that will help ease the pain of losing their loved ones a little. *shrugs*
Sad after the Chilean success. I heard this afternoon a 3rd explosion occurred. Sounds like keeping the rescue team out was a wise move. I doubt they would have achieved much in 40 mins.
Jimbuna
11-26-10, 11:49 AM
Yeah pretty sad, I can't help thinking what if? I read that the best time for the rescue would of been straight after the first gas explosion where the rescue team would of had a 40min to 1hr window:hmmm:
So far 2 million in donations has been raised for the families of the victims at least that will help ease the pain of losing their loved ones a little. *shrugs*
Sad after the Chilean success. I heard this afternoon a 3rd explosion occurred. Sounds like keeping the rescue team out was a wise move. I doubt they would have achieved much in 40 mins.
That would have been a terribly difficult one to make....should we go in and risk more lives or stand back and await any further developments?
Damned if you do, damned if you don't :hmmm:
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