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IPODS TO THE RESCUE
Latest news on the rescue of Brant Webb and Todd Russell, now in their eighth day underground:
The two trapped Tasmanian miners have been given iPod music players to help them pass the time as workers wait to begin drilling their rescue tunnel.
Webb’s father has spoken of his grief over the death of miner Larry Knight, and paid tribute to union officials at the rescue site:
“You’ve got to feel for Larry Knight’s family,” Mr Webb told Today’s Karl Stefanovic.
“We’re all going to celebrate — and they are going to bury their son. I really do feel for them,” he said ...
Mr Webb said the family had received tremendous support from locals and the unions, and were hoping there would be no further delays in freeing the trapped miners.
For a complete wrap-up of events to date, here’s Tony Wright’s excellent piece in the Bulletin.
UPDATE. Yesterday, the ABC’s Alison Caldwell claimed:
They are actually walking around, they’ve cut through the cage, they can walk around outside the cage.
Not so, according to Future Prime Minister™ Bill Shorten:
Mr Shorten told theage.com.au that cutting the cage would weaken it and and put the men at risk should further rock falls occur - a fact he said was well known to the miners and their families.
The two men are seemingly healthy and are now being fed. The rescue effort has callled in experts from across Australia:
On Sunday night, Darren Flanagan was at home watching the mine rescue on television. Ten minutes after they announced the miners were still alive, his phone rang.
Shortly after that call, Mr Flanagan was flying out of HMAS Albatross, on a plane chartered by Beaconsfield Gold.
On his arrival at the mine, he became a member of a large team tasked with saving the miners, trapped almost one kilometre below.
Current state of things: rescuers are waiting for a concrete foundation to set so that a raise borer may commence drilling. Once underway, they’re looking at 48 hours to pierce 12 metres of rock.
UPDATE II. More trouble for Kim Beazley:
Kim Beazley dug in yesterday against claims he politicised the Tasmanian mine collapse, including from Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, who suggested the Opposition Leader was cashing in on the tragedy.
I want an ipod,but not to the extent that I would endure what those poor buggers are going through. This Age article discusses how they had a problem with ‘waste’ in the first few days (until their GIs were empty I suppose).
I’m all in favour of safe workplaces, but maybe Beazley can explain how union-approved safety training can prevent mine collapes caused by earth tremors. And while I don’t doubt the sincerity of Bill Shorten’s concern, why has a union hack suddenly become the Cronkite of this particular situation? Do they get the head of the Firefighters’ Union to be the principal commenter on a bushfire?
Thanks for the link entropy. Apparently one of them is listening to country and western, which is probably good trapped-in-a-mine soundtrack.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 05 02 at 11:26 PM • permalink# 4. Shorten’s contribution
Exactly what I’ve been thinking; why is this ” future PM™ ” having his face plastered all over the media in the reporting of this story? Shouldn’t developments be delivered by the company and people who actually work there? Had Shorten ever been to Tasmania prior to this event?Posted by pick-your-pun on 2006 05 02 at 11:32 PM • permalinkAt least big Kimbo isn’t stomping all over the place risking further seismic problems.
#6 We will rock you - Queen
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 05 02 at 11:44 PM • permalinkThank Tim for the updates. I have not heard anything over hear in the states. Keep up the good work.
Posted by Capitalist Rosie on 2006 05 02 at 11:49 PM • permalinkTERROR BENEATH THE EARTH!
Defenseless Miners Slipped IPods Loaded with Fisk Interviews!
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 02 at 11:50 PM • permalinkI was raised on a farm. We slaughtered our own sheep, I’ve seen fly blown sheep with maggots working their way up the spine, I’ve been in a car accident where a man was killed, I’ve changed really grotty nappies..etc, etc. Throughout, my stomach has remained intact.
But if Bill Shorten, the hero of Beaconsfield - humanist, psychologist, paramedic, mining engineer and general all-round man of knowlege is on TV again tonight, I’ll throw up. I’m sorry, I’ll just have to.
Posted by Whale Spinor on 2006 05 02 at 11:56 PM • permalinkWatching Shorten milk this event is truly nauseating.
Posted by bad templar on 2006 05 02 at 11:58 PM • permalinkMaybe I’m just an ignorant coal miner used to longwalls and draglines, but I don’t understand how they’re using a raise borer.
Isn’t a raise borer used for, you know, raises? Aren’t they used vertically or am I thinking of completely the wrong machinery? Can a hard rock miner help me out?
Does anyone really care? Shouldn’t I be working?
I wonder what music you listen to when you’re trapped in a mine?
I’m guessing one of the selections isn’t “Timothy” by the Buoys.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 05 03 at 12:15 AM • permalinkOh by the way, I fixed the italics. Check your comment before posting, please.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 05 03 at 12:16 AM • permalink#16 anthony1982
I think the answer is that they have put this whatsisthing on its side and cemented it to the wall. That’s part of the reason for the delay. They are waiting for the cement to dry.
Then again this may be entirely wrong. The closest I’ve been to a mine was when a WWII era one washed up on Surfers Paradise beach about 40 years ago.(True) And even then there were grave suspicions it was a publicity stunt at the time.
Ol’ Billy Shorten sure has the run of everyone’s taxpayer funded ABC. I would have thought that Tassie would have some sort of mining engineering spokesperson who could provide up to date news of the rescue. But no, Shorten is there, slavering and spinning his little heart out.
Beazley’s stuffed! I can’t believe he hasn’t been tapped on the shoulder by now!
#16 I might hazard a guess.
I roughnecked for Bendix Corp in summers to pay for Uni. We choppered in and assembled rigs up in the Wyo/Colo Rockies looking for uranium in Mama Gaia’s G spot.
We used what we called a “snatch” rig. Drill, drive casing, drill, drive casing til you get through the overburden, then change bits and drillpipe and bore the rock as a “core”, which is then “snatched” back to the surface for analysis.
I think (should probably google first) this is similar—but a 1 meter (3 foot) wide core! They’re gonna need a lotta “bentonite” to raise that…
A lot of the time it was slant drilling, so if this is hard rock, a raise borer should still be able to drill at a pretty acute angle.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 03 at 01:12 AM • permalinkOh, and they’re not interested in the state of the “core”...just a nice clean hole.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 03 at 01:14 AM • permalinkHow do you do your drilling? Simliar concept, different scale.
Well, we used a detroit deisel on a skid, a 12 meter mast to hold the drillpipe(s). The big ole deisel powered the hydraulics to clamp (and I mean clamp) the drillpipe as well as power the head (a power take-off, really, from the deisel).
So the hydraulics do two things: they clamp the pipe and, as the the pipe is turned, the hydro-rams push it down as hard as the platform (or weight of the skid, mast and deisel) can bear. When the rams reach their extent, kill the revs, let off the clamp and raise the rams up and start again.
I’ve seen drillers run the rig with the front of the skid two inches off the ground (so about 10 tons of pressure on the bit, plus the weight of the pipe, which varies on depth of course).
Whats going on in Tassie is similar but ON A MUCH LARGER SCALE. The basic principle involved is the same: cutting of rock and removal of the cuttings from the hole.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 03 at 02:00 AM • permalinkThe rumour is that they are staying underground until David Koch and Melissa Doyle get bored and go home.
It’s sure to be vicious amongst the media stars as to who gets to shake hands with the two miners when they eventually come up. My betting is on Naomi Robson,armed with clipboard, who should be able to elbow Tracey, Mark, Karl and Kochie out of the way without disturbing her coiffure at all. I’ts sure to be a Logie-winning performance.
Does anyone else suspect that Bill Shorten is dragging out this mine rescue so he can get his head on the telly for a few more days?
For F* sake anyopne would think he’s actually down their single handedly digging out the rocks with his bare hands!
Political grandstanding at its worse - what next in Kim Beazley going to actuall carry one of the miners out?
Posted by knuckleheadwatch on 2006 05 03 at 02:08 AM • permalinkLabor’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.(Apologies, Bill)
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 03 at 02:17 AM • permalinkJust a slightly off topic question for the girls.
why the F# does every miner - soldier - fireman have a wife and 2-3kids?
what comes first the chicken or the egg?
Posted by knuckleheadwatch on 2006 05 03 at 02:20 AM • permalinkI understand they’re sending Latham down the shaft to give the stone wall a right nutting…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 03 at 02:37 AM • permalinkgood to see shorten’s usefulness increased from yesterday when he was delivering chinese whispers from management and speculating on the miners’ mental state. one has to question why the ABC doesn’t cut out the middle man and just talk directly to management/engineers/miners.
Posted by drscroogemcduck on 2006 05 03 at 04:50 AM • permalink#40.Why do soldiers, miners and firemen always have wives and kids?
Cos there’s something really attractive about them and it’s a good way to keep them.
Just an off the cuff thought.
Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 05 03 at 05:32 AM • permalinkBack on topic, last night’s news (can’t remember which channel although most likely 7) commented on the locals getting sick of the media plague.
The reported described how he had seen one of the family members walking down the street and a photographer jumped out in front of her to take the pic.
The reporter also did not evince any irony at this.
Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2006 05 03 at 05:35 AM • permalink# 40 Mr F Conservative
Just a slightly off topic question for the girls.
why the F# does every miner - soldier - fireman have a wife and 2-3kids?
It’s a long time since I’ve been a girl but I will attempt to answer your question. Women are of the female sex and have accompanying bits that make most them want to hook up with a responsible, decent sort of bloke and use those bits, together with his bits, to produce children. That’s what women do. I don’t understand why you’re so perplexed.
Apart from that, my dearly beloved (with whom I’ve had two children - me being a standard female) who never reads blogs and is slightly perplexed by the mysteries of computerdom has complained to me three times about Bill Shorten’s omnipresence in the reportage of this mining disaster. He has asked me, rhetorically, several times, “What does Shorten know about mining? Why is his face on TV all the time?” If Shorten ever gets to be a candidate for PM I think there will be more than a few people who will remember this current grandstanding of his with disgust.
I’m guessing one of the selections isn’t “Timothy“ by the Buoys.
Dammit. You beat me to it, Andrea.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2006 05 03 at 07:45 AM • permalinkPaul Kelly has not quite blamed the rock fall on Howard and Costello, but he manages to slight them with assertions that their strutting and fretting upon the stage is getting a bit repetitive and lacking innovation.
Really? I guess the whole Industrial Relations saga is just a yawn after all, not the “end of civilisation as we know it” that Kimbo paints it.
I thought Kelly could maintain an independent position, but sadly it is not the case. Trying to wipe Howard and Costello off the map with this sort of - well - more whinge than swinge - is a poor effort for a supposedly first rank scribe.Linking IR reforms to mine safety seems ill-informed to me. I could be wrong, but aren’t safety standards covered by OH&S legislation? I would have thought that there would also be separate mining safety standards.
Changes to the Workplace Relations Act would not change OH&S laws one bit.
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2006 05 03 at 08:23 AM • permalink#44 Would you expect “7” to evince squat?
O/T slightly:
Eyewitness News: The Burnley tunnel on Citylink (Monash Freeway)was closed in both direction in Melbourne, gridlocking the city most of the day (3/5).I was at Warrigal Rd when I saw a Ch. 7 crew filming the traffic. One of their “best boys” was busily pressing the pedestrian crossing button to stop traffic at the off ramp so they could get a better shot.
Wonder if Media Watch will pick that up.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 05 03 at 05:44 PM • permalink
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Good luck to them, hope they are okay and all that - but I wonder what music you listen to when you’re trapped in a mine?