San José Mine San José Mine The San José Mine () is a small copper-gold mine located near Copiapó, Atacama Region, Chile. The mine became known internationally for its collapse in 2010, which trapped 33 miners underground. Its workings are reached by a long sloping roadway with many spiral turns (a diagram shows ten turns), not by a vertical mineshaft. The San José Mine is located 45 kilometers northwest of Copiapó. The mine began operations in 1889. In 1957, Jorge Kemeny Letay, a Hungarian immigrant founded the San Esteban Mining Company (). According to Terra, the mine's annual sales surpassed 20 million dollars.
Center Rock be completed much faster than originally anticipated. Center Rock Center Rock, Inc. is a manufacturer of drilling equipment headquartered in Berlin, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1998 by Brandon W. Fisher. Center Rock made headlines in 2002 when its equipment was instrumental in the Quecreek Mine Rescue in Pennsylvania, in which nine miners were rescued after being trapped for 78 hours in a flooded mine. In 2010, Center Rock assisted in the rescue of 33 miners trapped for 69 days as a result of the Copiapó mining accident in Chile. The company provided a special hammer bit for the