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 million tons of coal and making up 27% of the company's output. On 25 February 2016, two explosions occurred within the mine, setting off a partial collapse of the mine and killing four miners while trapping twenty-six; eighty-one other miners were evacuated safely with minor injuries. The explosions, occurring about below ground and occurring about an hour apart during the afternoon, were believed to have been started by the ignition of a methane gas leak. Rescue efforts for the trapped miners began promptly, with at least 500 people involved. Efforts were hampered by Vorkuta's remote location within the Arctic Circle,