From early this morning until tonight, the news channels have been broadcasting almost constantly from the San Jose mine in Chile and we have seen 17 of the 33 miners rescued. Probably more by the time I’ve finished writing this. This is one of those rare occasions when the news is dominated by a good news story.
But whilst we celebrate the rescue of the miners so far, and wait for news of the rest plus the rescuers who went down to help out, there are some things to ponder.
We are prepared to go to almost any extent to rescue miners in such a situation – and quite rightly too! But perhaps we should be considering just how much we are prepared to pay for pulling minerals out of the earth. The mine in question had a dubious safety history, which itself isn’t a reason for it to remain closed. But it does raise the question of whether more work should have been done before the accident to make it less likely.
But serious mining accidents occur world-wide and cause many deaths annually, without generating anywhere near the amount of attention that the San Jose mining accident has gathered. Perhaps that is understandable given that this is now a good news story.
There are those who say that mining is an inherently dangerous activity and there will always be accidents. But if you read work your way through that list of mining accidents at the link above, it quickly becomes apparent that in many cases sheer commercial greed is a major contributory factor. And not just in ancient mining disasters, but in the 21st century!
If we spend as much effort as has been spent on saving the San Jose miners on improving mining conditions world-wide, we can save many more miners from disaster. Isn’t that worth paying just a touch extra for your consumer goods ?