Compañía Minera San Esteban Primera workers at this mine were paid around 20% higher wages than at other Chilean mines, due to its poor safety record. The San José Mine is located 45 kilometers northwest of Copiapó. It began operations in 1889. In 1957, Jorge Kemeny Letay, a Hungarian immigrant founded the San Esteban Mining Company (). The San José Mine () is a small copper-gold mine located near Copiapó, Atacama Region, Chile. The mine was the site of a 2010 collapse which trapped 33 miners underground. Its workings are reached by a long sloping roadway with many spiral turns (a diagram shows ten turns),
Beaconsfield Mine collapse mate". On the afternoon of 7 May, prominent Australian journalist Richard Carleton suffered a heart attack at a press conference while at the mine. He was transported to hospital, before being pronounced dead by a doctor. Less than six hours after they were rescued, Todd Russell joined more than a thousand mourners at Larry Knight's funeral. The funeral had been postponed constantly in the hope that both rescued miners could attend, before finally settling on Tuesday 9 May. Russell attended after being discharged from Launceston General Hospital in time. When Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters heard of the miners'