Lode Star Mine Rescue

Incident Report

Approximately one hour ago, a cave-in occured at the Lode Star Mine, located in the eastern Owens Valley. The cave-in has trapped ten miners. The Lode Star is a remote tungsten mine that has been in operation for approximately 43 years; it employs some 67 personnel. Due to the remote location of the mine, additional rescue personnel and equipment will not arrive until 1445 PT. Currently, there are seven (7) company personnel on site who may be capable of some work. Eight (8) more are stranded at Levels 2 and 3 with no easy (or safe) way out.

For a timeline of events, click here.

Technical Team Objective

The UCSB CSEP has been contacted to assemble a technical team and formulate a rescue. At 1445, additional rescue personnel and equipment from the surrounding Owens Valley area will arrive to commence a rescue operation. The rescuers will require the following:

• A Rescue Plan (RP) to be distributed to arriving personnel. The document should be written in conventional English and contain language that is understandable by readers with a 10th grade education. It must be concise, precise and unambiguous! The document should be submitted as a PDF document and may incorporate graphics, tables, charts, photos, etc. taken from the internet. All available rescue personnel and equipment are to be used to the fullest extent possible. You should have a plan for everyone and everything available to you.
  
  For a summary of available personnel and equipment, click here.
  
  
• Your team's RP must include the following elements:
  
  
  • Mine map— Show a mine map of the overall situation. Be sure that the map includes labels to indicate: depth, level, pump, skip, main shaft, air shaft, and winch. NOTE: You can either draw a new map or copy the map that is located on this website and add labels.
  • Rationale— This 1-2 paragraph summary will outline the overall rescue strategy to be employed and why it is deemed the best approach.
  • Rescue of Level 2 and 3 personnel— Because the mine is unstable, personnel trapped at Levels 2 and 3 must be removed first. Explain how you will get them out before proceeding with the rescue of trapped miners at Level 7.
  • Flooding— Explain how you will mitigate the rise of groundwater at the lower levels. NOTE: the mine's main water pump has been destroyed by falling debris and cannot be repaired.
  • Air Supply— The miners are trapped within a confined, airtight space and are steadily using up their air supply. The space in which they find themselves consists of approximately 1500 cubic feet of air. How long can they survive within this space and how will the rescuers get fresh air to the miners? NOTE: as flooding continues, the total volume of air decreases.
  • Hypothermia— Due to frigid (55 degree F) groundwater flooding into the mine, the water threatens the trapped miners with hypothermia. Even if they are given fresh air in time, they may not survive the massive loss of body heat. How might the rescuers warm them before extraction?
  • Extraction— Explain how will you get the trapped miners safely out of Level 7 and back up to the surface.

   

• An oral briefing— At 1445, all activity must cease!!!! The rescue personnel will almost have arrived and will be given your RP. You will have exactly 2 minutes to brief the rescuers (i.e., your classmates) on the key points of the rescue operation using your PDF report on the digital projection screen. Your team may be called upon at random to explain how your plan addressed specific challenges of this rescue operation.
  

Evaluation

During the oral briefings and Q&As, we will evaluate how well each rescue plan addresses specific threats and challenges.