Shannon link to saving 33 buried Chilean miners

A CLARE company played a major role in making contact with the 33 Chilean miners who were found alive last Sunday, after they were stranded below ground for 17 days.
The drill that was used to reach the miners, who were 700m (2,300 feet) below ground, was designed and manufactured by Shannon company Mincom.
Founder of the company Paddy Purcell said the equipment used had been designed and built in Clare.
“A reverse circulation hammer was used and the drill bits that go with it. We designed the hammer and it is covered by patents all over the world. It was manufactured in Shannon also.”
He said the force of the drill is very powerful. “It hits 2,000 blows a minute and it can drill through solid granite at the rate of about metre a minute. The drill that we sent, created a hole that was just over five inches wide and it was sufficient to get food down.”
While Mincom were interested in buying back the drill that was used, it is being kept by the Chilean Government, who are set to put it on display at La Moneda, the President’s residence in the city of Santiago.
Mr Purcell said there are very few companies who could provide the type of equipment that had been required.
“This particular mine is an underground mine and they wouldn’t have been using this drill there, but they needed a drill rig that could go down 700 metres and they approached one of the customers of our distributor. There were eight drill rigs on site and three manufacturers of drills, there are probably only three in the world that could do it.”
Mr Purcell set up the company in 1977 and it currently employs around 50 at Shannon, while it also has international outlets.
The miners were left stranded at the San Jose mine, close to the city of Copiapo, when the rock above them collapsed. Little hope was held out for their survival after they were missing for a number of days.
While they have now been reached and are receiving water, it’s expected to take months until a rescue shaft of sufficient size to take them back to the surface will be drilled.