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),
Vorkuta mine disaster the presence of methane gas within the mine, which workers feared would spark another explosion, and lack of communication with the trapped miners. In the morning of 28 February, a third explosion, also believed to be caused by methane gas, shook the mine, causing further collapses. Five rescue workers and another miner, attempting to reach the trapped miners, were killed. Based on the proximity of the explosion to where the trapped miners were located, the trajectory of the flames, and the high concentration of carbon monoxide in the mine's air, Russia's Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov believed the trapped miners