The few living men had managed to make their way to the shaft bottom where there was at least some air, those more distant succumbed to the effects of afterdamp, principally carbon monoxide.
12.
At East Driefontein, Onstott and his team would spend three months gathering samples at a depth where no microbe hunters had ventured before : The No . 5 Shaft bottoms out at 11, 222 feet.
13.
The incident trapping the miners occurred in the service shaft when a 15 meter section of compressed air pipe burst and fell to the shaft bottom, in the process damaging steel shaft guides, and electrical lines which cut off power to the hoist on the service cage.
14.
Some shafts do not use guide beams but instead utilize steel wire rope ( called Guide ropes ) kept in tension by massive weights at shaft bottom called cheese weights ( because of their resemblance to a truckle or wheel of cheese ) as these are easier to maintain and replace.
15.
The miners'equipment included picks, hammers and wedges to split the rock, " wiskets " or baskets to contain it, " corves " or sledges to drag it to the shaft bottom, and windlasses or " stows ", to lift it to the surface.
16.
On 3 October 2007 3, 200 employees were trapped underground when a 15 metre compressed air pipe broke away just below surface in the men and material shaft and fell to the shaft bottom, severely damaging both the shaft steelwork and the electricity supply to the sub men and material shaft . The trapped workers were all brought to surface by 4.00 p . m . the following day after cages had been installed in the rock shaft . 48 days of production were lost.
