The shift is over
The scoreboard reads “Underground 4 Rescued 29“. That’s good for the interested parties, but a sad commentary on a dangerous occupation.
Man has been going into dark places in quest for riches for about as long as we’ve bothered to record human activity. Pick your treasure; there’s likely someone, somewhere involved in digging it out. Funny (odd) thing, that. All the easy to find stuff was picked up ages ago, and now if you want a poke of gold, or diamonds, or coal (similar but different), be prepared to get dirty in a dark place.
I’ve visited a number of disaffected mines (three, actually), and my interest was held for the first fifteen minutes or so. After that, I started wondering “how much longer?” Guess I’m not cut out for a career that requires wearing a lamp and big boots. Nor am I likely to recycle into the field, in case the headhunters are reading over your shoulder.
Down in Chile (in more ways than one), a group of 33 professionals went in, back in early August and are getting out now. As I write. Something went very wrong and the usual reliable route to the surfaced disappeared. Oops. Let’s see where the story unfolded.
I particularly like the meander of the original shaft. Gentle slopes, heading down to a depth that boggles my imagination. The mine contained a small amount of gold and a larger amount of rock that had to be removed by human labour. Gold; useful for not much else other than adorning the idle rich.
What I want to know, now that the group is (almost) all back on the surface: Do they get paid overtime for the last nine plus weeks?
