There is a potential tragedy unfolding in South Africa, as mroe than 3,000 miners have been trapped in a gold mine.
About 3,000 miners were trapped underground Wednesday when a water pipe burst and probably caused a shaft to collapse in a South African gold mine, officials said. There were no immediate reports of any injuries at Harmony Gold's Elandsrand Mine near Johannesburg.
A company executive said officials have been in contact with the trapped workers and expect to rescue them over the next 24 hours. Harmony's acting chief executive, Graham Briggs, said on MSNBC that the miners have been receiving food and water. He said the rescuers would evacuate the miners over the next day using a small cage in another shaft, but the process would be a slow one.
We should send them our best wishes, and prayers, and hope that the optimism of the mining official's will be proven correct. Amazing that 3,000 miners would be inside a mine at one time anyway. There is more about the company below:
Harmony Gold Mining Company specializes in turning old digs into new digs. The company generally buys under-performing gold operations and turns them into low-cost, high-productivity mines. Harmony is South Africa's third largest gold miner and among the world's largest as well. South Africa accounts for the vast majority of its sales, about 90%. The company produces more than 3 million ounces of gold annually and has 56 million ounces in reserves. Outside of South Africa, it also operates mines in Australia and exploration projects in Peru and Papua New Guinea.
Harmony is the only South African gold mining company with its own dedicated refinery and gold fabrication plants. Harmony Pure Gold is gold of South African origin, produced and manufactured to the highest quality standards, and guaranteed by modern production and laboratory facilities.
Sourced from mines up to 2,500 meters deep, and extracted from rock formed more than 3 billion years ago, Harmony Pure Gold is the finest gold from the African continent.
We shall keep an eye on the news updates, and hope for a happy ending!
trapped
Showing posts with label coal miners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coal miners. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Search WILL Continue For Utah Miners
There are been a change in plans from this morning to this afternoon, as it was just announced that search efforts for the missing Utah miners will continue.
Despite three weeks of drilling and digging that have revealed no signs of life from six men trapped inside a collapsed coal mine, an attorney for families of the miners said Sunday the search will continue. Lawyer Colin King said federal and company officials told him and the miners' relatives that a robotic camera would be lowered into a hole drilled during previous efforts to find the men.
The robotic camera was used at the World Trade Centers after 9/11, as it has the ability to move about the rubble. This is a hopeful sign for the miner's families who were becoming despondent over the talk of ending the search efforts. May this new device finally find these miner's and give the families some closer.
robotic camera
Despite three weeks of drilling and digging that have revealed no signs of life from six men trapped inside a collapsed coal mine, an attorney for families of the miners said Sunday the search will continue. Lawyer Colin King said federal and company officials told him and the miners' relatives that a robotic camera would be lowered into a hole drilled during previous efforts to find the men.
The robotic camera was used at the World Trade Centers after 9/11, as it has the ability to move about the rubble. This is a hopeful sign for the miner's families who were becoming despondent over the talk of ending the search efforts. May this new device finally find these miner's and give the families some closer.
robotic camera
6th Hole In Utah Mine Finds Nothing
In a story at Yahoo News this morning the news is not good. The sixth hole drilled to find the miners in Utah, did not find any sign of them.
What next? That was the question remaining after a drill punched a sixth hole through a mine shaft and found no sign of six miners last seen before a massive collapse nearly three weeks ago. Federal safety officials told families of the missing miners they would conduct testing — air samples, signaling in hopes of a response from the men, and dropping a video camera into the mine shaft — but have been less than hopeful about the results, which were expected to be announced Sunday.
The families are obviously upset and want them to continue looking for the miners until they find them, no matter how long it takes. There was some speculation that they might try a seventh hole, but it was not high on their priority list. The search should continue through drilling holes, as long as it does not put anyone else in danger.
I have been wondering if there is some other means of detecting open spaces underground, where they might be holed up. One method I looked up was GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar), and I am not sure if it is viable in the type of ground where the mine is located, but is anyone looking into these other possibilities. I have a link to the wikipedia information for a deeper explanation of GPR, but basically it uses radio waves to find things underground, and can penetrate anywhere from 0.3 centimeters to 15 miles depending on the make-up of the ground it is being used on, and its' electrical conductivity.
These miners deserve every legitimate effort be made to find and recover them, and my hopes are that Mr. Murray and company will do the right thing and keep looking for a while longer. Let the families of the miners know that everything humanely or technically possible was done, before making the decision to turn this mine into a tomb.
sixth
GPR
What next? That was the question remaining after a drill punched a sixth hole through a mine shaft and found no sign of six miners last seen before a massive collapse nearly three weeks ago. Federal safety officials told families of the missing miners they would conduct testing — air samples, signaling in hopes of a response from the men, and dropping a video camera into the mine shaft — but have been less than hopeful about the results, which were expected to be announced Sunday.
The families are obviously upset and want them to continue looking for the miners until they find them, no matter how long it takes. There was some speculation that they might try a seventh hole, but it was not high on their priority list. The search should continue through drilling holes, as long as it does not put anyone else in danger.
I have been wondering if there is some other means of detecting open spaces underground, where they might be holed up. One method I looked up was GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar), and I am not sure if it is viable in the type of ground where the mine is located, but is anyone looking into these other possibilities. I have a link to the wikipedia information for a deeper explanation of GPR, but basically it uses radio waves to find things underground, and can penetrate anywhere from 0.3 centimeters to 15 miles depending on the make-up of the ground it is being used on, and its' electrical conductivity.
These miners deserve every legitimate effort be made to find and recover them, and my hopes are that Mr. Murray and company will do the right thing and keep looking for a while longer. Let the families of the miners know that everything humanely or technically possible was done, before making the decision to turn this mine into a tomb.
sixth
GPR
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Is Utah Mine To Become A Tomb
It would seem that the time to give up in the Utah mine collapse hs come, and it will now become a tomb for the six miners who were trapped after it caved-in nearly two weeks ago.
Six coal miners caught in a cave-in may never be found and could forever be lost to the still-quivering mountain, officials conceded Sunday, abandoning the optimism they've maintained publicly for nearly two weeks. Relatives responded by accusing federal officials and the mine's owners of quitting on the rescue effort and leaving the men for dead.
May these miners rest in peace, and NOW is the time to make sure that answers are found for what caused the cave-in, and whether there was negligence on the part of the mine owners or the government agency that watches over mine safety. It is sad that six men and three rescuers died in this mine, and may their deaths' not be in vain!!
Tomb
Six coal miners caught in a cave-in may never be found and could forever be lost to the still-quivering mountain, officials conceded Sunday, abandoning the optimism they've maintained publicly for nearly two weeks. Relatives responded by accusing federal officials and the mine's owners of quitting on the rescue effort and leaving the men for dead.
May these miners rest in peace, and NOW is the time to make sure that answers are found for what caused the cave-in, and whether there was negligence on the part of the mine owners or the government agency that watches over mine safety. It is sad that six men and three rescuers died in this mine, and may their deaths' not be in vain!!
Tomb
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Link To Coal Miners Prayer
As news from the Utah coal mine continues to be discouraging, I have found a link to a website called Letcher County Coal Miners' Memorial, and there is a Coal Miner's Prayer written by a Margie McAlaster. In addition to the prayer there are links to other sites, as well as information about other mine disasters and a memorial fund for the families of miner's who have lost their lives in the mines.
Please take a few moments to check it out, I think you will find it informative as well as very moving. Thank you.
Officials at the Utah mine declared it too dangerous to tunnel inside the mountain, and instead pinned their hopes on a fourth hole being drilled into the mine to look for any sign of the missing men.
prayer
Please take a few moments to check it out, I think you will find it informative as well as very moving. Thank you.
Officials at the Utah mine declared it too dangerous to tunnel inside the mountain, and instead pinned their hopes on a fourth hole being drilled into the mine to look for any sign of the missing men.
prayer
Friday, August 17, 2007
More Tragedy At Utah Mine
It has been another tragic day at the Utah mine, where rescuers were killed as another "bump" caused part of the tunnel to collapse. This is just one more in a series of set backs for the people trying to find the 6 missing miners from a week and a half ago.
The search for six miners missing deep underground was abruptly halted after a second cave-in killed three rescue workers and injured at least six others who were trying to tunnel through rubble to reach them.
It would seem that the only safe thing to do is to keep drilling smaller holes from the top and try and find them that way and not send anymore men into the mine to try and dig through, as the mountain continues to settle. The mine is taking a terrible toll on everyone involved and more loss of life is not needed. They tried valiantly to find the missing miners, but now more families are destroyed due to their efforts and new losses. It is a very sad day for these Utah miners and their families and our prayers go out to them.
mine
The search for six miners missing deep underground was abruptly halted after a second cave-in killed three rescue workers and injured at least six others who were trying to tunnel through rubble to reach them.
It would seem that the only safe thing to do is to keep drilling smaller holes from the top and try and find them that way and not send anymore men into the mine to try and dig through, as the mountain continues to settle. The mine is taking a terrible toll on everyone involved and more loss of life is not needed. They tried valiantly to find the missing miners, but now more families are destroyed due to their efforts and new losses. It is a very sad day for these Utah miners and their families and our prayers go out to them.
mine
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Survivable Space In Utah Mine?
In a story that has gripped much of the nation the last few days, there was a tiny, glimmer of hope at 2:51 C.S.T., as a video camera lowered into mine where six miners have been missing for more than five days shows "survivable space," a federal official said Saturday, but attempts to signal the miners were met by silence.
This is not much, but this morning there was an even gloomier assessment of the miner's fate, so finding this space has spurred the rescuers on even more. Our prayers and best wishes continue to go out to the men, their families, and co-worker's.
I have become increasingly annoyed at the tone of the question's asked by the press. They are trying to make out that Bob Murray, head of Murray Energy Corp., and co-owner of the mine was running a dangerous mine with many safety violations. This contradicts what other news people and mining experts are saying, which indicates that this mining operation was one of the better run mines in the country. It is true that at some of their other mining operation, Galatia, Il. for example where there have been some 2,787 violations since 2005.
Obviously, there are many question's to ask, and have answered, but right now, please stay focused on the prize, which is the recovery of the miner's, whether they are alive or dead!
This is not much, but this morning there was an even gloomier assessment of the miner's fate, so finding this space has spurred the rescuers on even more. Our prayers and best wishes continue to go out to the men, their families, and co-worker's.
I have become increasingly annoyed at the tone of the question's asked by the press. They are trying to make out that Bob Murray, head of Murray Energy Corp., and co-owner of the mine was running a dangerous mine with many safety violations. This contradicts what other news people and mining experts are saying, which indicates that this mining operation was one of the better run mines in the country. It is true that at some of their other mining operation, Galatia, Il. for example where there have been some 2,787 violations since 2005.
Obviously, there are many question's to ask, and have answered, but right now, please stay focused on the prize, which is the recovery of the miner's, whether they are alive or dead!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Utah Mine Caves In
I was reading a story just miniutes ago, it is 11:37 a.m. as I am writing this about the coal mine cave-in in Utah and we have another send are best wishes and prayers incidents.
It has got to be so terrifying to be in that cave if they are alive, as I had heard reports before I came to work that they have only the lights on their helmets, some water, and that is about it. They said that due to the fact that they would not know how long until a rescue, that standard procedure would be to leave the lights off as much as possible, so being 1500 feet down, and nearly four miles inside the ground, they would be in Total darkness. Now I know that this is their jobs, but just thinking of that kind of darkness makes my chest tighten.
These are incredibly brave men who do a very hazardos job to provide the coal which powers much of this country. I know "choose" to work in this type of job, but they are still deserving of a little extra appreciation for that work. Thank you to all who provide our energy resources, without which we would not have much of a country.
May the press please give the families a little breathing room, while they await word of their loved ones, instead of acting like "vultures waiting to feed on a corpse", as is usually the case in these tragedies.
There was a mention of "retreat mining" occurring when the collapse occurred, which is when they intentionally knock out the coal pillars in the cave to get the last bits of coal from the mine they are abandoning, but the story attached to the link has the owner denying that it was being done. He said the earthquake nearby caused the cave-in, so we will need for investigators to provide the cause later on.
For now we can just watch, wait, and pray, that they are found alive.
Efforts to reach six coal miners trapped more than 1,500 feet underground will take at least three days, and rescuers weren't even sure the men had survived the cave-in, one of the mine's owners said Tuesday.
mine
It has got to be so terrifying to be in that cave if they are alive, as I had heard reports before I came to work that they have only the lights on their helmets, some water, and that is about it. They said that due to the fact that they would not know how long until a rescue, that standard procedure would be to leave the lights off as much as possible, so being 1500 feet down, and nearly four miles inside the ground, they would be in Total darkness. Now I know that this is their jobs, but just thinking of that kind of darkness makes my chest tighten.
These are incredibly brave men who do a very hazardos job to provide the coal which powers much of this country. I know "choose" to work in this type of job, but they are still deserving of a little extra appreciation for that work. Thank you to all who provide our energy resources, without which we would not have much of a country.
May the press please give the families a little breathing room, while they await word of their loved ones, instead of acting like "vultures waiting to feed on a corpse", as is usually the case in these tragedies.
There was a mention of "retreat mining" occurring when the collapse occurred, which is when they intentionally knock out the coal pillars in the cave to get the last bits of coal from the mine they are abandoning, but the story attached to the link has the owner denying that it was being done. He said the earthquake nearby caused the cave-in, so we will need for investigators to provide the cause later on.
For now we can just watch, wait, and pray, that they are found alive.
Efforts to reach six coal miners trapped more than 1,500 feet underground will take at least three days, and rescuers weren't even sure the men had survived the cave-in, one of the mine's owners said Tuesday.
mine
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
