? about miners

[Maverick2002]

I don't know much about mines, but do they have some sort of water/food delivery system or just really large stores? I thought I read the miners were down there for 17 days before anyone even knew they were still alive ... where did the rations come from? What about light?

 

[FDF12389]

16 in some states, 18 in others.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

they had emergency supplies, but it was an effort to squeeze 2-3 days worth of them to stretch to 17.

 

[Maverick2002]

Is that really doable? I thought if you didn't have water for like 3-4 days you would die. And on top of all that, not sure if this is right but I thought it got really hot down there too, which would mater water loss even a bigger issue.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Is that really doable? I thought if you didn't have water for like 3-4 days you would die. And on top of all that, not sure if this is right but I thought it got really hot down there too.

They used a backhoe to dig for hidden water. And at that depth, I believe it's still rather cool, not hot.

 

[Squisher]

IIRC they had a three day emergency supply of rations. To make it last 17 days they cut it up into the smallest of amounts like one cracker and one spoonful of peanut butter per day. When they broke through with the 3" hole they still had a few days of food (in these small amounts) left.

 

[GundamW]

Now, the question becomes:
What if they had run out of food? Are they going to start eating each other? "Alive!" style?

 

[cerebusPu]

i remember reading that it was 85F plus in the mine. For some reason it wasn't nice and cool 60F like an underground cave system.

 

[D1gger]

"The geothermal gradient -- the internal temperature of the Earth increases with depth from the surface. Near the surface, the average geothermal gradient is about 25 degrees centigrade (77 degrees Fahrenheit) for every kilometer of depth."

I've been ~1,000 meters (3,300 feet) down in a potash mine, and it was very hot. They did have ventilation and A/C running, but some areas of the mine felt like 100F.

"Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - At the Allan potash mine near Saskatoon more than 800 km of tunnels run deep beneath the ground. The're down there because that's where the potash is, 1000 metres below the earth's surface, and it's this product that has probably been keeping your garden green. Saskatchewan has the largest reserve in the world of potash, which provides potassium for plant fertizers. The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, which has mines near Saskatoon, Regina, Esterhazy and Rocanville, is the world's largest fertilizer enterprise. The Esterhazy location is the largest producing potash mine in the world. Saskatchewan accounts for about 1/3 of the world's production of both potash and uranium.

 

[Brovane]

"The geothermal gradient -- the internal temperature of the Earth increases with depth from the surface. Near the surface, the average geothermal gradient is about 25 degrees centigrade (77 degrees Fahrenheit) for every kilometer of depth."

I've been ~1,000 meters (3,300 feet) down in a potash mine, and it was very hot. They did have ventilation and A/C running, but some areas of the mine felt like 100F.

"Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - At the Allan potash mine near Saskatoon more than 800 km of tunnels run deep beneath the ground. The're down there because that's where the potash is, 1000 metres below the earth's surface, and it's this product that has probably been keeping your garden green. Saskatchewan has the largest reserve in the world of potash, which provides potassium for plant fertizers. The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, which has mines near Saskatoon, Regina, Esterhazy and Rocanville, is the world's largest fertilizer enterprise. The Esterhazy location is the largest producing potash mine in the world. Saskatchewan accounts for about 1/3 of the world's production of both potash and uranium.

From my understading the miners had to live in 90 degree heat with 90 degree humidity. When you start getting deep things start heating up.

There are South African mines below 10,000 feet and things get very hot even with constant AC, ICE etc.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I was wrong on my earlier post. It was 33 dudes stuck in a sauna for two months.