A Shannon-based manufacturing firm has been celebrating this week having played a major role in the rescue of 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for more than two months, the Clare Herald reports.
Mincon International provided the MX5053 reverse circulation hammer and drill bits used in the rescue of the miners from the San Jose gold and copper miner in Chile.
Speaking following the rescue of all 33 miners last night, Mincon Technical Director Joe Purcell said: “Everyone at the company is delighted and over the moon… It was our drill that first got through to the miners, but it really was a team effort with everyone else working there."
Congratulating the company today, Shannon Chamber of Commerce today said: “Mincon fully deserves the praise that it has received on the airwaves and elsewhere, in the days leading up to and during the perilous rescue operation.”
“Joe and his team can pride themselves in the fact that their engineering capability, developed here in Shannon, has saved the lives of the 33 trapped miners. The holes drilled with the Mincon product provided the all-important communication link through which food, water, medicines and most of all, hope, was passed to the trapped men”, Helen Downes, Chamber CEO added.
Mincon International is located at the Smithstown Industrial Estate in Shannon.
