West Chester firm's role in rescue of Chilean miners

Ed Breiner never doubted that the drilling rig manufactured by his company, Schramm Inc. of West Chester, would be able to punch through 2,200 feet of solid rock to reach 33 trapped Chilean miners.

What worried him was how rescuers would extract the men once the hole was dug.

On Wednesday, with the unprecedented rescue well under way and the world rejoicing at what appeared to be the happiest of endings to the 69-day drama, Breiner was ready to breathe a sigh of relief.

Almost.

"I'm not going to relax until the job is done and the last guy is out," said Breiner, 54, chief executive officer of the 110-year-old company.

Schramm is one of two Pennsylvania firms that played critical roles in the race to free the miners, who were trapped Aug. 5 when the copper and gold mine collapsed in remote northern Chile. The other is Center Rock Inc. from Somerset County in Western Pennsylvania, which made the drill bit used in the operation.

All day, as miners were hauled to the surface one by one in a specially made, manhole-wide capsule and the rescue was looking to be an astounding success, the world celebrated with parties, tweets, and tears of joys.

At Schramm, however, with rigs in more than 75 countries, it was business as usual. No champagne corks popping, as was happening at the San Jose Mine; no Schramm employees huddled around televisions watching the increasingly exuberant rescuers, as people were doing all over the world.

"We're working," said Breiner, whose company employs 157 people and has been in West Chester since 1917. In the spring, it won the World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia Business Member of the Year Award for its international reach.

"We're excited and proud to be part of this," he said. The rescue was "very encouraging. I'd like to see the 33d miner brought back to the surface."

Similarly, at Center Rock on Wednesday, employees were able to keep only one eye on the rescue. Machines still needed to be oiled and floors swept, and somebody had to answer the phones, which were ringing off the hook.

"We still have customers who still need products today, so we're working and we're celebrating," inside-sales manager Becky Dorcon told the Associated Press.

Used in the rescue was the firm's LP Drill, designed to bore through the hardest rock faster than other drills.

Center Rock owner Brandon Fisher, 38, and Richard Soppe, 58, his director of construction and mining tools, spent 37 days with scant sleep drilling the rescue shaft. Fisher returned Tuesday night.

Jeff Roten, a Schramm field technician who helped keep the drill operation running, was flying home Wednesday, with a company party planned to welcome him back and thank employees.

Roten was one of two Schramm representatives at the mine. The other was Claudio Soto, the company's regional sales manufacturer for South America.

The party was to be typically low-key.

"Our guys will grill something and eat lunch in the shop where we set up tables and chair. Nothing fancy," said Breiner, who has led the company for five years.

After the mine collapsed, Chile's government summoned drillers to the site to evaluate the situation. Nine responded; five were Schramm customers. One, Terra Service, a Chilean company, drilled the bore hole that first reached the miners, who sent up a note Aug. 22 saying they were alive.

Then in early September, an Atlanta firm, GeoTech, brought in the Schramm T-130 drill and components on a five-vehicle convoy, a development cheered by miners' families, who waved Chilean flags and chanted slogans.

The drilling effort "was a complex, difficult process on a good day," said Breiner.

The fact that rescuers had to drill through solid rock was actually "advantageous," he said. It eliminated the need to line the entire half-mile tunnel with steel casing for support. It also reduced the dangers of flooding and explosions.

Drilling and mining have not gotten a lot of good publicity lately, Breiner said, especially with the summer's oil-rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico and other environmental concerns related to the industry.

"It's good to see drilling looked at in a positive way."