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COPIAPO, Chile: Chile's mine drilling effort to rescue 33 trapped miners was put on hold for several hours Wednesday to shore up the shaft walls after a fault in the rock was detected, the chief engineer said.
Drilling to reach the miners 700 metres (2,300 feet) below the ground began Monday, with a giant 30-ton drill expected to take three to four months to dig a big enough tunnel to pull the men out.
"We stopped drilling to take measurements after we found a (geological) fault that forced us to shore up the shaft walls with cement," chief engineer Andres Sougarret told reporters.
He said it was not unusual to find faults in the first 100 metres (yards) of starting a new shaft, adding that engineers were expecting it.
"They're minor faults and do not pose a problem because they can be dealt with adequately."
He said drilling operations, which advance at about 20 metres (65 feet) per day, stopped at Wednesday afternoon and would likely resume overnight.
"We have to pour the cement in the daytime so we can continue drilling non-stop at night. That's what we're doing and later the machine will resume its work," Sougarret said.
-AFP/wk
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