Raft of trapped miners/mine explosion stories?

[Joe]

Has anyone else noticed the spate of trapped miners or explosions in mines stories over the past year or two? It just occurred to me with the latest Chilean event that I had seen a lot of stories like this over the past while.

This one's from June, China (which seems to have a lot)

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/210745-46-killed-in-central-China-coal-mine-blast

Also June, Columbia

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/210619-16-dead-dozens-trapped-in-Colombia-mine-blast

May Russia

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/208262-Entire-town-affected-by-Russian-coal-mine-blasts

April USA

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/206221-12-killed-10-missing-in-West-Virginia-mine-blast

April China

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/206217-China-Miracle-Rescue-of-115-Miners-Trapped-for-More-Than-Week

March China

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/205706-More-than-150-workers-trapped-underground-after-vast-Chinese-mine-floods

March Sierra Leon

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/205103-At-least-200-killed-as-Sierra-Leone-gold-mine-collapses

Nov 2009 China

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/197477-China-coal-mine-blast-death-toll-jumps-to-87

I think there were a few more in China during this period. Anyway, I was just wondering if this is normal and that better reporting has made it easier to get the information, or if not, then what might the symbolism (if any) of these be.

I just thought of that quote from the Lord of the Rings where the dwarves were said to have dug too deep and too greedily and awoke something from the depths!!

 

[shijing]

I wonder if this could be part of the "Earth opening up" phenomenon -- things being generally more tectonically unstable and shifting around, creating the opportunities for more mining accidents (kind of in the same way that there are more opportunities for accidents at drilling sites)?

 

[Vulcan59]

This Venezuelan mine collapse happened Monday night.

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/214191-Six-Killed-in-Cave-in-at-Venezuela-Mine

 

[anart]

I wonder if this could be part of the "Earth opening up" phenomenon -- things being generally more tectonically unstable and shifting around, creating the opportunities for more mining accidents (kind of in the same way that there are more opportunities for accidents at drilling sites)?

Don't forget the pathologicals in control factor - when psychopaths control mining companies, safety and equipment upkeep is last in line.

 

[RyanX]

Speaking of coal mine explosions, I remember reading this article from about a year ago:

_http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001081219.htm

Coal-Mining Hazard Resembles Explosive Volcanic Eruption, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Oct. 1, 2009) — Worldwide, thousands of workers die every year from mining accidents, and instantaneous coal outbursts in underground mines are among the major killers. But although scientists have been investigating coal outbursts for more than 150 years, the precise mechanism is still unknown.

New research by scientists at the University of Michigan and Peking University in Beijing, China, suggests that the outbursts occur through a process very similar to what happens during explosive volcanic eruptions. The research is described in a paper in the October issue of the journal Geology.

"Just as magma can fragment when pressure on it is reduced, triggering an explosive eruption, gas-rich coal can also erupt when suddenly decompressed, as happens when excavation exposes a new layer of coal," said Youxue Zhang, professor of geology, whose previous work on volcanic eruptions, Africa's "exploding lakes" and theorized methane-driven ocean eruptions set the stage for the current research.

Zhang did much of the work on the coal outburst project in 2006 and 2007, during a part-time professorship at Peking University. Around that time, a number of deadly coal mine accidents---in China, Russia and the United States---had made headlines, and just before leaving for China in 2006, Zhang had printed out articles about the disasters to read during his flight.

"While reading a paper describing coal outbursts as violent ejection of pulverized coal particles and gas, the similarity of coal outbursts to magma fragmentation suddenly occurred to me," Zhang said.

When he arrived at Peking University, he discussed the idea with colleague Ping Guan, and the two decided to collaborate on experiments simulating coal outbursts. Zhang recruited undergraduate student Haoyue Wang to help with the project, in which the researchers used a shock tube apparatus similar to the one Zhang had used in previous experiments on explosive volcanic eruptions. Their experiments verified that coal outbursts are driven by high gas pressure inside coal and occur through a mechanism similar to magma fragmentation.

Before an explosive volcanic eruption, magma (molten rock in Earth's crust) contains a high concentration of dissolved gas, mainly water vapor. When pressure on the magma is reduced, as happened in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens when overlying rock was suddenly removed, gas bubbles in the magma rapidly expand. Pressure is higher inside the bubbles than in the surrounding magma, and when pressure on the bubble walls builds to the breaking point, the bubbles burst and the magma fragments into pieces in an explosive eruption.

In deep coal beds, coal contains high concentrations of the gases carbon dioxide and methane. When a coal seam is exposed, pressure on the coal is reduced, but pressure on the gas inside the coal remains high. When the resulting stress exceeds the coal's strength, the coal fragments, releasing high-pressure gas that suddenly decompresses, ejecting outward and carrying pulverized coal with it.

The first recorded coal outburst was in France in 1834. Since then, outbursts have occurred in China, Russia, Turkey, Poland, Belgium, Japan and about a dozen other nations. They happen only in deep mines where coal contains gas at high pressure, but as deeper coals are mined to satisfy the world's energy demands, the risk of outbursts increases.

"Knowing the mechanism of coal outbursts is the first step toward predicting and preventing such disasters," said Zhang.

Next, the researchers plan more experiments to verify their results. Then, they hope to capture details of the outbursts with a high-speed camera and to study a variety of coal types from different mines.

The research was funded by Peking University, the Chinese National Science Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Another thought here is that if something like these sinkholes that keep turning up around the globe occurs in a coal seam region that it might also trigger an explosion too.

One thing is for sure, I wouldn't want to be living anywhere near these areas.

 

[Username]

Concerning what's happening here in Chile with the trapped miners, I thing this story really has the flavour of a "sign of the times". How unexpected to have a whole country deeply concerned with the fate of these poor men! When it was known that they were alive, people went to the streets to celebrate, it was something totally new for me, never seen. Instead of gathering because of a victory of the national football team, men were gathering because some of their fellowmen were safe. And then, the fact that they will be there at least 3 or 4 months before being rescued, and that everybody will be talking and thinking about them, and that the forces of the state have been mobilized to support them, feed them, take care of them, I don't know, but it's a dinamic that has a special flavour, a new one, it's almost surreal. And Anart's observation is correct in this case. The owners of the mine have really shown themselves as psycopaths with their uncarring and irresponsable management of their business. It makes me remember what the C's said, "it's really a bad time for being a psycopath"...

In anycase, I don't want to be naif. At the same time that this story is evolving, 32 mapuches (indians of southern Chile) imprisoned by the force of the antiterrorist law, have been in a hunger strike since 40 days ago and there is a total blackout in the media concerning this...