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      SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AP) - Chileans reveled Thursday in the
stunning glory and jubilation of a record-setting mine rescue. As
the celebration fades, however, several key questions await
resolution.

      Officials at the copper and gold mine whose collapse trapped the
33 men for more than two months still have to answer why it was
allowed to operate at all.


      Attention will also focus in coming days on the rescued miners
themselves, their emotional scars must be tended - and, eventually,
it remains to be seen how many will want to return the underground
profession that nearly killed them.


      President Sebastian Pinera seemed unequivocal after Wednesday's
rescue about the fate of the San Jose mine.


      "This mine will definitely never open again," he said after a
dizzying day in which the miners were pulled up through a narrow
escape chute from nearly a half-mile down in under 23 hours - far
less than originally forecast.


      Pinera also said the conditions that allowed the accident "will
not go unpunished. Those who are responsible will have to assume
their responsibility."


      Pinera said the rescue would end up costing "somewhere between
$10 (million) and $20 million," a third covered by private
donations with the rest coming from state-owned Codelco - the
country's largest company- and the government itself.


      Mining accounts for 40 percent of the Chilean state's earnings
and the rescue's details were run by its operations manager, Andre
Sougarett.


      The Aug. 5 collapse brought the 125-year-old San Jose mine's
checkered safety record into focus and put Chile's top industry
under close scrutiny. Many believe the collapse occurred because
the mine was overworked and violated safety codes.


      The families of 27 of the 33 rescued miners have sued its owners
for negligence and compensatory damages.

      Also suing the San Esteban company is Gino Cortez, a 40-year-old
miner who lost his left leg from the knee down a month before the
accident as he was leaving the mine after his shift and a rock fell
on him. He contends he was hurt because the mine was short on the
metallic screens that protect miners from such collapses.


      Pinera said he would in the coming days be offering a new
proposal for better protecting Chilean workers.


      After the collapse, he fired top regulators and created a
commission to investigate both the accident and the industry's
Sernageomin regulatory agency. Some action was swift: the agency
shut down at least 18 small mines for safety violations.


      "The mine has been proven dangerous, but what's worse are the
mine owners who don't offer any protection to men who work in
mining," said Patricio Aguilar, 60, of nearby Copiapo, during
celebrations of the meticulously executed rescue.

      Advances in technology notwithstanding, mining remains a
dangerous profession in the smaller mines here in northern Chile,
which employ about 10,000 people.

      Since 2000, about 34 people have died every year on average in
mining accidents in Chile - with a high of 43 in 2008, according to
Sernageomin data.


      Most of the rescued miners live in Copiapo, a gritty,
blue-collar city surrounded by the Acatama desert. Copiapo's
central plaza was jammed with thousands of revelers watching the
operation on a giant screen as street vendors hawked Chilean flags
bearing the faces of "Los 33."


      The last miner, shift foreman Luis Urzua, emerged from the
Phoenix rescue capsule after the 2,041-foot ascent to a joyous
celebration. Pinera, eyes moist with emotion, told him: "You are
not the same, and the country is not the same after this. You were
an inspiration."

      No one is known to have survived as long trapped underground.
For the first 17 days, no one even knew whether the men were alive.
In the weeks that followed, the world was captivated by their
endurance and unity.

      With hardhats held to their hearts, the pair led the rescue team
in singing the national anthem. Broadcast by state TV, it seemed
ubiquitous in small country of 16 million roiling with pride.

      "Chile today is more united and stronger than ever and I think
that Chile is today a country more respected and more esteemed by
the world," Pinera said after chatting with Urzua on live TV about
how the men endured.


      The rescue exceeded expectations every step of the way.
Initially, officials said it might December before the men could
get out. Once the drill that opened the escape shaft pierced the
men's subterranean prison, they estimated it would take 36 to 48
hours to get everyone out.


      The actual time: 22 hours, 39 minutes.


      The only real glitch was indeed minor - it became bit difficult
as the day wore on to open and close the escape capsule's door as
the day wore on, said Laurence Golborne, the mining minister who
Pinera put in charge of the rescue. Early Thursday morning, the
last rescuer who helped the miners into the escape capsule came up
safely to end the operation.


      Golborne has won high marks for his deft management of the
closely scrutinized rescue, and Chilean media have been abuzz with
discussion of him as Pinera's most likely successor. Elected in
December 2009 to a four-year term, Pinera is constitutionally
barred from running again.

      Once rescued, the miners were taken to a hospital in Copiapo for
observation. Initially, officials said all would be there a full 48
hours after emerging from the mine.


      But Health Minister Jaime Manalich said some would probably be
able to leave Thursday. First lady Cecilia Morel confirmed that to
The Associated Press.


      "They are being kept more as a preventative measure than to
treat anything," she said. Better to be in the hospital "than at
home where they could be given meat and fried pork rinds," she
said.

      All but a few of the men emerged in very good health, officials
said.


      Manalich said many had been unable to sleep, wanted to talk with
families and were anxious. One was treated for pneumonia, and two
needed dental work.


      But it became clear that they also faced emotional challenges
from their ordeal.


      Dr. Guillermo Swett said miner Jimmy Sanchez, at 19, the
youngest of the group and the father of a 4-month-old baby,
appeared to be having a hard time adjusting and seemed depressed.

      "He spoke very little and didn't seem to connect," Swett said.
      Chile has promised to care for the miners for six months at
least - until they can be sure each man has readjusted.


      Psychiatrists and other experts predict their lives will be
anything but normal.


      Pinera said he would visit all of them in the hospital Thursday
and then host them at the government palace in Santiago, the
capital.

      Previously unimaginable riches awaited men who had risked their
lives going into the unstable mine for about $1,600 a month.


      At some point, the men will need to decide whether they will
return to the mines.


      Many of their relatives are dead-set against it, but they also
acknowledged that they probably couldn't stop the miners from going
down again.


      Mario Medina Mejia, a local geologist. said plenty of Chilean
miners have returned underground after close calls, and he compared
it to sailors who survive shipwrecks only to ply the waves again.


      "If they need the work they will return to the mine," he said.
"It's their life, their culture, the way they make their living."

      Associated Press Writers Michael Warren, Franklin Briceno, Peter
Prengaman, Vivian Sequera and Eva Vergara contributed to this
report.
      

Gallery

Last of Chilean miners is raised safely to surface

Chile choreographs dramatic finish to rescue saga

A way out, at last, for Chile's 33 trapped miners

Disasters

Chileans reveled Thursday in the
stunning glory and jubilation of a record-setting mine rescue. As
the celebration fades, however, several key questions await
resolution.

As Chile celebrates, mine's future in question

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