7 Miners Removed From Idaho Mine After Rock Burst

chemistry1969 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:27 am

7 miners removed from Idaho mine after rock burst

(AP) A mine company says seven miners have been safely removed from deep in a northern Idaho underground mine after rock burst caused injuries to the miners.

Hecla Mining Co. spokeswoman Melanie Hennessey didn't immediately have other details on the Wednesday night incident at the Lucky Friday mine. One of the miners was taken to a hospital in Coeur d'Alene, while the other six were treated at the scene.

The Shoshone County Sheriff's Office received a call about 7:50 p.m. Wednesday that miners were either trapped or buried at the silver mine.

Hecla operates the Lucky Friday, one of the nation's deepest underground mines.

Two miners died at the Lucky Friday earlier this year in separate events.

Associated Press

Doug · **Posted:** Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:52 am

What is the story Banks tells about the name? Workin' there you were lucky to make it to Friday.

Kiwi#1 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 16, 2011 3:50 am

Try to find a copy of "Fire in the Hole" by Jerry Dolph. He worked there, great book and interesting tales of the "rock burst".

Chris
in New Zealand

UGMiner Banks · **Posted:** Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:06 am

yeah all those mines in the silver valley out there are on a fault line... and its pretty unfriendly at times with the air blasts and stuff (rock bursts). I guess everyone was alright tho?

Miner Mike · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:40 pm

Fortunately, all 7 miners are expected to fully recover! It appears that the rock burst might have been caused by seismic activity as was the case in the same area about a month ago according to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... apped.html . The Lucky Friday Mine has been reaching increasingly deeper depths over the years in order to access multiple silver deposits far beneath the ground. Hecla Mining Company, owner of the mine, is currently undergoing a $200 million project to bring the mine down to almost 9,000 feet below ground in order to access a new vein. With these extreme depths come extreme pressures of rock all around, and the dangerous reality of rock bursts.

On their website, they do have an interesting set of videos which illustrate their operations more clearly:
http://www.hecla-mining.com/operations/ ... friday.php (choose About Lucky Friday for a 3d diagram of the workings)

Doug · **Posted:** Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:16 pm

There may be no connection........................
And I like a lot of things about Bob Murray....................

but...............

I've heard seismic activity before. Who's making the claim?

Deep mines have to be very careful with the engineering.

Miner Mike · **Posted:** Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:51 am

Fair question Doug. According to this report just a couple of hours ago, Hecla admits that the rock burst WAS the seismic activity that occurred, and it registered a whopping 2.2 on the Richter scale!

http://www.kuow.org/northwestnews.php?storyID=143984903

Doug · **Posted:** Tue Dec 20, 2011 1:22 pm

The 3d Rendering is real interesting.
Thanks for posting.

UGMiner Banks · **Posted:** Mon Dec 26, 2011 4:38 pm

Yeah, out there id say it probably actually was, doug... Theres a lot of it in that valley actually. That fault that all those silver veins lie on i guess is still pretty active.

Doug · **Posted:** Mon Dec 26, 2011 8:22 pm

I'm pretty clueless about hard rock mines. Just playing off "rock burst and seismic activity" .

7 Miners Removed From Idaho Mine After Rock Burst

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