Compañía Minera San Esteban Primera Piñera said on October 12 that "the mine will remain closed until security measures that guard the life and dignity of the workers are established." Compañía Minera San Esteban Primera Compañía Minera San Esteban Primera (San Esteban Primera Mining Company) is a Chilean mining company, dedicated to the production of copper and gold concentrates. San Esteban's headquarters are located in Providencia, Santiago Metropolitan Region. San Esteban also owns the San José Mine in Copiapó, Chile, where 33 miners were trapped underground for 69 days after a mining accident on August 5, 2010. Chile has a long tradition in mining, which
Beaconsfield Mine collapse men sang "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers (the only song they both knew) in order to keep up their spirits, as they waited for successive blasts to occur in the tunnel. At about 5.45PM on 30 April two rescuers, Pat Ball the underground manager and Steve Saltmarsh, mine foreman, breached safety protocols by entering the 925 level, to the rockfall and yelled out. Webb and Russell began yelling "We're in here!" and this was how the rescuers found out they were alive. Later one rescuer found a direct route to the trapped miners, across the rubble in the side tunnel,