智利钻探公司Geotec Boyles Bros.的运营经理Jim Stefanic领导了成功无聊的钻探者，然后扩大了“ Plan B”救援轴，成为33名智利铜矿矿工的生活之路被困69天地下将近半英里。抓住世界的救援发生在去年秋天，位于距智利北部科普亚波约28英里的圣何塞矿山。
估计有700,000吨的岩石，8月5日的洞穴被捕，将矿工捕获在墨西哥北部阿塔卡马沙漠下方的矿井中，在圣地亚哥以北近500英里。他们于10月13日被救出后，Geotec重新获得了2,040英尺，5½英寸的飞行员孔至28英寸。然后，它可以容纳将每个矿工从岩石监狱带到地球表面的救援胶囊，在那里each was reunitedwith loved ones.
智利救援被认为是有史以来最深的地下矿工检索。在69天的时间里，这也代表了被困矿工在地下幸存下来的最长的。
After the collapse, in order to find out where the miners were and whether they were alive, state-owned mining company Codelco asked Geotec and seven other drilling companies to drill pilot shafts from the surface to likely places the missing miners might have taken refuge, says Stefanic. The drilling was tricky, he adds, since there were no accurate maps of the mine, the rock is hard, the holes were deep, and the drilling paths were curved, not straight.
A pivotal moment arrived when Geotec and two other drilling companies each landed a 5½-in.-dia hole on target. The trapped miners banged on the drill bit. They were able to attach to one of the drill bits a note bearing the message that all 33 miners were alive and together in the spot. Soon, communication lines and life-sustaining supplies, food, clothing and air flowed down through the three 5½-in.-dia lifelines, while the Chilean government looked for ways to free the trapped men.
25岁的Igor Proestakis，钻机的现场工程师供应国际智利Antofagasta的国际办公室，该办公室正在为许多现场提供钻头，管道和其他供应，建议扩大5.5英寸的钻头。飞行轴，以便可以将矿工抬起到安全。
Codelco selected Geotec’s pilot shaft as the one to enlarge. Drillers Supply called drill-bit manufacturer Center Rock Inc., Berlin, Pa., for special hard-rock bits that Geotec could use to widen the shaft—first to 12 in. dia, then to 28 in. dia—to accommodate the capsule.
除了为救援工作提供钻头外，中央摇滚乐人布兰登和朱莉·费舍尔（Julie Fisher）以及该公司的一位技术专家之一从美国飞往智利的救援现场，以借用其专业知识。To help Stefanic’s team enlarge the vital rescue hole, Geotec’s U.S. affiliate Layne Christensen Co., Mission Woods, Kan., flew in two of its drillers, who possess extensive experience at boring large-diameter holes in hard rock, and two Spanish-speaking drill hands from its U.S. operation.
“Drilling large-diameter holes takes a different set of skills than drilling smaller-diameter shafts. It’s not as simple as just drilling the same hole with a larger bit,” says David Singleton, president of Layne Christensen’s water-resources division.
The drillers that Layne Christensen sent to join Stefanic’s team had been drilling large-diameter water wells in Afghanistan for the U.S. military.
最终,Stefanic钻机组人员和技能the teamwork between Geotec, Layne Christensen, Drillers Supply and Center Rock opened the 2,040-ft-long, 28-in.-dia shaft that enabled what is believed to be the deepest-ever rescue of miners trapped underground. The effort was a huge team effort, led by Stafanic.
And they did it more than two months faster than experts originally estimated. The miners all were free by Oct. 13, not Christmas Day, as expected.
