30 miners up as of this evening, far faster than anticipated. All of them are expected out within a few hours. The Chileans are making this look easy. I watched a video clip from a camera at the top of the capsule, showing the ascent. The shaft walls are so smooth they almost look polished. How interesting.
Just so we can bask in reflected glory -- that hole was bored with a drill made in Pennsylvania, operated by an American driller flown over from Afghanistan -- where he had been drilling water wells for our forward operating bases.
Which causes me to wonder yet again (WARNING: THREAD HIJACK IN PROGRESS):
Remember the mad cow disease scare, and how the U.S. was able to trace 100 bovines from an infected farm/ranch in Canada right to their stalls in the U.S., but we can't find +/- 12
million illegal aliens? I see a little bit of this in operation here. The U.S. has a deep drill exploration and production
industry. We have probably more than two guys who can drill holes in rock. So how is it that, out of all the guys in the industry, somebody decided that THIS guy (am I remembering the name Jeff Barnes correctly, or did I make that up) was THE guy to operate this rig, and that this was important enough to track him all the way to Afghanistan to fly him to Chile?
I'm not complaining. I'm intensely proud that the U.S. played an integral part in such an historic rescue and I think our driller and the company who made the drills are deserving of
mucho credito. I'm just struck by the fact that, instead of all the probably unemployed deep rock drillers who were (and are) sitting around in the U.S,, they went looking for this one guy all the way to Afghanistan.
And he delivered -- in spades. Maybe he truly is the best and bringing him in was the only call to make. I dunno. That decision was way over my pay grade. But -- like those volunteer
rescitates who went DOWN the hole to help the miners UP, I suspect if his name gets out Mr American Driller man will never have to pay for a drink in a Chilean mining town.
