Goodwill message from one mining town to another

Parishioners in Navan were given an opportunity at Masses on Sunday to sign a message of goodwill to the Chilean miners last week rescued from the collapsed San Jose mine. Massgoers were reminded that Navan is a mining town and that a gesture of solidarity with the Chilean miners would be very appropriate. Parish administrator, Fr Declan Hurley, explained that the idea was suggested by a parishioner and after speaking about it to a number of people, he quickly realised that it would be appreciated by local parishioners. “At Masses in Navan, parishioners signed specially printed sheets. These will be bound and sent with a message in English and Spanish to the parish priest where the mine is located. We hope he will be able to present it to the miners,” Fr Hurley said. “Everybody was touched by the courage of the miners during their ordeal, and by the efforts made by everybody to secure their rescue,” he continued. “The testimonies of many of the miners to the role their faith played during their ordeal has also touched many of us. I think we were heartened by it all. So it just felt appropriate that as a parish community we should do something to say how much we shared in the joy of their rescue.” Eric Brady, who works at Tara Mines in Navan, was one of the first to sign the message in St Oliver’s Church, Blackcastle. He commented: “I think the plight of the miners struck a chord in the Navan area. The message from the parish gives us all an opportunity to express our relief and happiness that their ordeal is over.” Members of the public will have an opportunity to sign the message in St Mary’s Church during the week before it is bound and posted to Chile. Like the millions of viewers, Trim councillor and former miner Phil Cantwell said he watched the rescue unfold until 4.11am on Wednesday morning. The first Chilean miner, Florencio Avalos, emerged from the rescue capsule after 69 days trapped 2,000 feet down the mine and was embraced by his wife and little son. “Mining is a dangerous occupation and miners worldwide have a close affinity with their fellow miners and never more so than last Tuesday the final stages of the rescue began,” Cllr Cantwell said. “Viewers were drawn into the drama of the real-life intense struggle to rescue the 33 Chilean miners. This was one of the biggest good news stories of the week and by year end may well be looked back on as the biggest good news story of 2010,” he added. President Sebastian Pinera and Minister for Mining, Laurence Golborne, were outstanding in their involvement in the rescue and their support for the miners and their families, Cllr Cantwell added. As chairman of the Tara Mines Disabled Workers and Pensioners Association, Cllr Cantwell went to the Chilean Embassy on Wednesday morning, a few hours after the successful rescue of the first miner and congratulated the Chilean Ambassador as the representative of the President and the Chilean People, on behalf of the Tara Mines disabled workers and pensioners. “The ambassador told me he was delighted that a public elected representative and a former miner had taken the time to drive from Meath to the embassy in Dublin to congratulate the Chilean people at this most special time in their history,” he said. “I also mentioned to His Excellency that in future October 13th should henceforth be known as Chilean Day and he was delighted with the suggestion. He hopes to meet President Pinera perhaps next week during his European tour and will tell the president of the hundreds of letters and messages he had received from the Irish people.” Ambassador Leonel Searle has only been living in Ireland a few months and Cllr Cantwell made a small presentation of galena ore and invited the Ambassador to visit Meath, Trim Castle and the Hill of Tara whenever his busy schedule allows. According to Cllr Cantwell, the drill bit used to initially 'spot’ the underground safe area in the San José deep mine was made in Shannon by Mincon. The Mincon company was set up in the late 1970s by Paddy Purcell who worked closely with Tara Mines in developing its drill bits. In the 1980s, some fitters from Tara and Silvermines went to work with Mincon to carry out the overhaul of Tara’s mining equipment. “Tara staff can rightly claim Tara played a part in the development of Mincon and indirectly with design and production of the drilling bit used in the rescue shaft in Chile to locate the 33 trapped miners, and to which the famous note was eventually tied to the drill rod to signify to the president and the outside world that the 33 miners were all still alive,” Cllr Cantwell said.