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CNN Live Today

Retired Miners Explain Mining Process

Aired July 30, 2002 - 13:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Pennsylvania is setting up a nine- member special commission to investigate the cause of that dramatic mining disaster. All nine miners were rescued over the weekend after their 77 hour ordeal. Only one miner remains hospitalized.
CNN's Jeff Flock joins us now from a nearby abandoned mine to give us an idea of what those men went through. What kind of work are they doing there -- or you said it is an abandoned one, Jeff?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is an abandoned mine, but what they do, you can get a tour here, and apparently we have had a lot of viewers calling up, where is this? What we can do? It's call the Seldom Seen mine, and it is -- I'm told if you go to Altuna and go south on 36, by golly -- or north on 36, you will get here. Good deal. Jake Miller, appreciate the access today down here.

JAKE MILLER, RETIRED MINER: OK. No problem.

FLOCK: You spent 38 years in a mine.

MILLER: Yes, 38 years.

FLOCK: Right.

MILLER: I started in this mine right here, right out of high school.

FLOCK: Right behind us, interestingly enough, this is the kind of telephone, same sort of unit, that the one group used to radio the other group, the nine miners that were trapped radioed the guys to say get out of here.

MILLER: In the mines, this is what they call a mine telephone. It has a PA system on it down there. You push the buttons and the PA system works. You pick up the phone and you can talk to somebody, and that's what happened down there. They called that other crew, and told them get out, there's water coming.

FLOCK: There's no radios, obviously, here. Jake, go ahead and go on in there. This is an escape way here. We asked you to kind of give us a look at what most closely approximates -- excuse the tight squeeze here, but we are going to have to squeeze through. We asked you to most closely show what approximates the space that the nine trapped miners were in, and I think maybe you can see this right now. We talked last hour, I think, Kyra, about how tight the spot was, and I hope I can get my wires here, because as we said, no wireless communication works down in a mine. We have got a couple of other old-timers here. And Walter, I want to get your thoughts. Walter Prozialeck, who has been in the mines -- you are now how old, sir?

WALTER PROZIALECK, RETIRED MINER: Pardon?

FLOCK: How old, sir?

PROZIALECK: Eighty-two.

FLOCK: You have spent a lot of time in places like this.

PROZIALECK: Oh yes, a lot of places. A lot of places.

FLOCK: What was going through your mind, as we look in here. I don't know -- John (ph), are you able to see back there with the light as best you can? This is the kind of space these guys were in. Can you even conceive of what that must have been for them, and what was going through your mind when you heard about this?

PROZIALECK: Well, I didn't have any problem with it, because these people are working in dangerous situations at all times, and they react very quickly, and they know the surroundings. When something breaks through, well, they will head for the safest spot. I mean, just the automatic reaction. They don't get shook up or upset or anything else. I mean, it is just part of a day's work.

FLOCK: Got you. I want to Glenn Kerr here as well, and talk about what happened down there.

They're mining in an area like this, and I don't know if John is able to get past you to see the wall there. They're mining in an area like that. I am seeing coal right along the wall. That's the seam.

GLENN KERR, COAL MINING BUFF: That's right. That is the B seam.

FLOCK: All of a sudden, what happens is they break through, and water begins to flood this kind of a space. How do you even get out of this space quickly. I -- It's hard to even move.

KERR: You take this third leg right here and you hunker down and you can travel like a greyhound if you are scared badly enough.

FLOCK: You were using that like a...

KERR: I am using this as a low cane, and you are kind of hunched over, like this when you are moving, but if you keep your back down low enough, you can get out of here pretty quick.

FLOCK: I know, Jake, we were talking about what that was to be trapped in this space, and you see the water. This is an abandoned mine. This is like the Saxman mine, in some sense.

MILLER: Yes. Saxman mine was full of water. This one isn't.

FLOCK: Right.

MILLER: Yes.

FLOCK: And the reason that that being full of water, I mean a lot of mines like this are full of water, correct?

MILLER: Yes, because...

FLOCK: And if you tap into them, you have got the same problem.

MILLER: Yes, because mines always -- mostly all of them are down below sea level, and the water automatically goes down and settles in the mines. Now, this mine is flooded on the other side of the hill over there. It's up to roof. But the water can't get out of that somehow, so it's there.

FLOCK: You know, would you spin around with your hammer and go show me the wall real quick, just before we get away, because we see how the coal is. Coal -- people -- some people don't know, coal is very -- very soft.

MILLER: Well, this has been exposed to air. This is a little bit softer than normal.

But that mining (ph) equipment they have today, they will dig right through that like going through a sand pile.

FLOCK: So you have got a mine with water back there, and you get anywhere near it, you are going to bust through.

MILLER: Yes, it is going to break through. It just depends on how much water pressure. It is like -- you can see a flood on television, how that water runs down and washes buildings and cars and everything. That's the same the water pressure will do in here. It will come through there. These posts, everything else. It will wash them (OFF-MIKE).

FLOCK: Blow it right out. Jake, I appreciate the time. Thank you, gentlemen. I really appreciate this opportunity to come in here and really give us some perspective on what those guys were going through. An amazing space, one of my dreams fulfilled to be in a coal mine. So, there you go -- Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Jeff, while you have all the men there with you, ask them -- have any one of those individuals been trapped in a mine before?

FLOCK: Yes, we were talking about this earlier, and talk about -- Jake, you said you had been in mine cave-ins in the past, right, and of course, a lot of people don't know about mining. Cave-ins are part of the operation. When you're done mining out of something, you want there to be a cave-in, beyond, of course, where the people are.

MILLER: You want -- whenever you mine, you mine up so far, and then whenever you come back, you have got a big square block of coal, there, 75-foot square. You take the block of coal out, whenever you take that out, you expose too much roof, and it is going to cave. That's what they call a controlled cave, whenever you take that stump out, next stump out, it is going to cave there. That's what they was doing in down in Somerset. They weren't pillaring yet, taking them stumps out. They was still going up into advance up in there. And then on the way back, they take them stumps, and it will cave right behind them.

FLOCK: You guys work right up until this cave happens, and it is amazing how you pull that off and not get yourself killed.

MILLER: Well, the experience -- like them posts there, the miners say those posts talk to you. The reason they do that is because they are bending, creaking, cracking, starting to break and stuff, and they will talk to you whenever -- being experienced, you got a good idea when that is going to cave, you tell the guys, get out of there in a hurry, it is going to cave. Caves down. After it settles and everything, you go back, get the other stuff.

FLOCK: Curious...

MILLER: Part of the mining cycle is what it is.

FLOCK: I hear you. Great to get these men's perspective, Kyra, really.

PHILLIPS: I know.

FLOCK: There's a lot of stories here in the mine.

PHILLIPS: It is nothing to them, it is just a way of life. It is incredible.

FLOCK: You said it.

PHILLIPS: True, strong souls there. Jeff Flock. All right. Surrounded by a few good men. You be careful, Jeff.

FLOCK: You said it.

PHILLIPS: All right.

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