2010-09-15 10:28

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A frame grab shows the drill bit of a machine, the T 130, after being removed from the escape hole due to a technical fault at the San Jose copper and gold mine where 33 miners are trapped underground from an accident on August 5, 2010 near Copiapo, some 725 km (450 miles) north of Santiago, September 14, 2010. [Agencies]

SANTIAGO -- Chile's 33 trapped miners have something good to think about: their next jobs. Bulldozer driver, mechanic, electrician. And here's a couple they might find particularly useful: "risk reduction specialist" and "escape-tunnel driller."

Two dozen companies with operations in Chile have made more than 1,000 job offers to the trapped miners and their 317 sidelined co-workers at a job fair this week. Even if they choose to go back to mining, the work won't necessarily be underground and it will almost certainly be with a company with a better safety record than their struggling current employer.

The 33 miners have been trapped for 40 days in harrowing, sweltering conditions since an August 5 collapse. No miners in history have been trapped so long, and it still could be months before a hole large enough to get them out is completed. They are getting food, medicine, communication and other essentials through narrower holes dug by rescuers, but their anxiety has become evident, with more questions asked each time they hear the drilling stop.

Their relatives wait anxiously for the miners, many in tents at the mine itself, but in many ways life goes on without them. One of them, Ariel Ticona, became a father for the first time Tuesday.

The San Esteban mining company, which owns the mine, has pursued bankruptcy protection since the collapse and has claimed it can't afford to pay the trapped miners, even though they'll have to work their way out by clearing rubble around the clock below the escape tunnels.

The San Jose miners have been offered 1,188 jobs as of Tuesday, many of them posted on a government labor ministry web site. Mining industry companies have interviewed some 200 of the miners who are not trapped at a hotel in the regional capital of Copiapo, and say they have no trouble waiting for the trapped miners to be rescued before they interview them as well.

"The 33 won't be without a job," vowed Sara Morales, a deputy human resources director for Terra Services, a Chilean drilling company. She told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she had received resumes from 80 miners and will offer 20 of them jobs.

There will be no deadline for the trapped miners to take advantage of this "relocation program," said Jose Tomas Letelier, a vice-president at Canadian gold mining company Kinross.

None of the trapped miners should have to venture back into marginal mines like San Jose that struggle to meet Chile's modern safety standards. Many of these job offers come from some of the world's most advanced mining companies, major international players making huge investments in Chile.

The companies are prepared to have the miners work as truck or bulldozer drivers, heavy equipment operators, electricians, mechanics, and supervisors in various jobs up on the surface. Kinross alone is offering 46 positions, including risk reduction specialist.

"As the name suggests, it's to prevent risks in mining, which is a very risky activity ... it's a very important role," Letelier said.

Even without the government-organized job offers, the miners shouldn't lack for work in the industry. Chile's mining sector is booming, with $50 billion in new investment expected in the next five years, making skilled mining workers increasingly hard to find.

"It's already difficult today to find certain kinds of operators," Letelier said.