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Posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 14:35:06 :
In Reply to: Re: O.T. mining pictures posted by Paul ( in NY) on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 14:25:51 :
Base pay there is around $30/hr, plus production bonus and silver price bonus. Some mines pay more base pay but less bonus. Overall, it works out to $40-$50 hour for most miners.
After the Sunshine mine disaster in 1972, MSHA has required a "secondary escapeway" in all underground mines. Sometimes that's an old shaft in some nearby mined-out workings, kept in operating condition but not used much, or sometimes it's a tunnel to an adjacent mine with a good shaft. I would never have been able to find my way underground to the secondary escapeway in case of a problem, but I figured I'd just follow the guys who knew where they were going. The requirement for a secondary escapeway made underground mining a lot more expensive since sinking a shaft and equipping it costs around $10,000 per foot these days, but it really was necessary for safety. Everybody underground carries a "self-rescuer", a small air purifier (made of potassium oxide, I think, that will keep you alive for an hour or so in bad air. There are also "refuge chambers" that are sealed to keep out bad air that you can go to if need be. The only
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