Owners Mull Reopening Mine

But device should work in normal conditions

(NEWSER) - An 8-inch robotic camera’s descent down a 1,415-foot borehole in the collapsed Crandall Canyon Mine was cut short yesterday by several hours of steady rain, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The weather blocked positioning of equipment needed to drop the camera, as well as preparations for a seventh borehole, in the search for the miners who have now been trapped for more than two weeks. More»

Company decides to close mine permanently

(NEWSER) - Workers will bore a final hole in a bid to locate six miners lost in a Utah mine, but if that fails, the operation will be halted and the mine closed as a kind of memorial tomb, the owner said yesterday. "We're not going to risk more live people to get dead bodies," said Bob Murray. Three rescue workers died in a collapse last week. More»

Crews start drilling toward unknown sound

(NEWSER) - Rescuers digging for men who have been trapped underground for 10 days heard noise inside the mine today, prompting crews to drill a fourth hole in the sound's direction. They described hearing 5 minutes of “noise” through seismic geophones, ignighting some hope in an otherwise-discouraging rescue effort. "There's a very good chance we may find them alive," said the mine owner. More»

(NEWSER) - The last hole drilled into the collapsed Utah mine where six men are trapped yielded no hopeful sign today; the space it reached was too small to support the men, a lawyer for some of the families told the press. "The only thing they told us is there is no void where the sixth hole is; there is no space," he told the AP after a meeting with mine officials. More»

Mourner assails company owner at rescue worker's funeral

(NEWSER) - A friend of a missing miner insulted the mining company CEO at a funeral yesterday as critics around the country pointed fingers. They say a safety organization has gone too easy on Bob Murray, letting him engage in dangerous “retreat mining” even though his mines are prone to “bumps,” or sudden earth shake-ups. Defenders say Murray has improved safety. More»