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“The 33” hits movie theaters; Morgantown man remembers his role in Chilean mine rescue

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — “It changed the way I look at life,” says Bill Maloney, a Morgantown man, of his role in the Aug. 2010 rescue of 33 miners trapped in a copper and gold mine for 69 days in Chile — the rescue story that’s told in the new movie, “The 33.”

A collapse of the main ramp into the San Jose Mine in northern Chile’s Atacama Region blocked mine access on Aug. 5, stranding the miners 2,300 feet underground.

By that time 2010, Maloney had sold his interest in North American Drillers, the company he co-founded with Joe Swiger, which specialized in large diameter shaft drilling for the coal, oil and natural gas industries.

After seeing the news of the collapse, though, along with early estimates that it would take as long as four months to drill through more than 2,000 feet of rock to get to those trapped, Maloney said he knew he had the technology, originally developed in Westover, to speed up the rescue effort.

In simple terms, “We took little hammer bits that you’d see on a percussion drill for water wells and put them in a can where you could drill bigger holes and the idea was to drill bridge piers….but we knew that idea would work (in the Chile rescue),” Maloney explained.

He traveled to Copiapo where he joined Center Rock’s “Plan B” team. There were delays along the way, but the “Plan B” drill, a Schramm T-130, did break through the roof of the mine on Oct. 9, 2010.

Maloney takes credit for designing the rescue capsule used to individually shuttle the miners to the surface.

“My second day there, I asked what they were going to use for a capsule and they said, ‘yours.’ We found the one they were talking about. It was in Beckley at the MSHA Training Academy. We had permission on a Sunday to fly it down there,” he said.

“We had a little pow wow the next day and I scribbled on a piece of paper what it ought to look like, because we had a crooked hole….and drew some little rollers and put in on the capsule in Beckley and, the next thing you know, the next day CNN reported NASA designed the rescue capsule.”

Maloney later secured a patent for that rescue capsule and a replica was constructed in the U.S.

Beginning late on the night of Oct. 12, 2010, the 33 miners were brought safely to the surface — one by one — every 25 minutes, continuing through the day on Oct. 13, 2010.

“I’m a God-fearing guy, but I really believe after what we all went through down there. Everybody just appeared from everywhere, there was South Africans, Canadians, everybody trying to get those guys out,” Maloney said.

Even in the toughest days, “We just knew, in our hearts and our souls, that it was going to work,” he said. “Nobody gave up.”

“The 33,” based on Hector Tobar’s book, “Deep Down Dark,” was released in theaters on Friday.

Directed by Patricia Riggen, the actors in “The 33” include Antonio Banderas, Lou Diamond Phillips, Rodrigo Santoro, Martin Sheen, James Brolin and Juliette Binoche.

As of earlier this week, Maloney — who twice ran for governor in West Virginia — had not seen the movie, but doubted he would be a character in it.

“There were so many people involved and I’m just lucky to play a small part,” Maloney said. “And (to) know that what you did with your life actually meant something and helped guys get out of a situation like that, it’s all worth it.”





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