American contractor Jeff Hart led the drilling effort to reach the trapped miners in Chile
Before he joined the rescue effort in Chile, Jeff Hart was drilling water wells for the U.S. Army's forward operating bases in Afghanistan. The contractor from Denver, Colorado, spent 33 days operating the drill that finally broke through to the miners last weekend. "You have to feel through your feet what the drill is doing; it's a vibration you get so that you know what's happening," says Hart, 40. After the Aug. 5 collapse at the privately-owned owned San Jose mine, the state-owned Codelco mining company reached out to Geotec Boyles Bros., a U.S.-Chilean company, to handle one of three simultaneous drilling efforts to rescue the miners. Geotec assembled a team of drillers, including engineers from two Pennsylvania companies - Schramm Inc., which makes the T130 drill, and Center Rock Inc., which makes the larger than average drill bits. Hart, a specialist with handling the T130, was summoned from Afghanistan. Hart says it was the toughest hole he's drilled, due to the tough quartzite rock that sits between the mine's veins of gold and copper. Hart received a champagne shower after breaking through to the miners on Saturday.