Not all that glitters is gold for mining pair

The ordeal may be over for rescued miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb, but they cannot relax yet.

They still have to decide to whom to sell their incredible story of two weeks stuck in a cage in the Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania - and for how much.

Who is in the running and for how much depends on which paper you read and which television station you watch.

But after Channel 7's David Koch struck an early coup when Russell, lying in an ambulance bed on Tuesday morning, gave him his mining tag, Channel 9 struck back on Thursday night with the men's appearance on its AFL and NRL Footy shows.

Evoking the emotions of the day of their rescue, Russell and Webb were funny, emotional when talking of fallen colleague Larry Knight and not about to give away their story for nothing.

When Channel 9 boss Eddie "Everywhere" McGuire asked the obligatory question of what it was like stuck in the mine, Russell replied: "Tell me how big the chequebook is and we'll talk."

The competition is not just about who gets the story - but who becomes the agent who gets to deal with the media outlets on their behalf.

The Australian newspaper said the men's families were leaning towards celebrity agent Max Markson amid talk he would take them on a world tour with appearances on Oprah and the Late Show with David Letterman.

But the Sydney Morning Herald said the men appeared to have turned away from celebrity agents and had appointed a Tasmanian lawyer to represent them.

Million dollar figures are being bandied about. Both channels 7 and 9 have dismissed reports of the men being offered A$3 million ($3.73 million) each.

Channel 7's director of news and public affairs, Peter Meakin, even said the value of the story was slipping.

"(Thredbo ski disaster survivor) Stuart Diver was three weeks (before going) on air, but he didn't appear on the Footy Show and sink bourbon and colas in the pub. He wasn't even seen at all until the interview," he told The Australian.

But there is still intense public interest in the men's survival story.

There have been reports that Russell was pinned under heavy rocks and rubble after the Anzac Day collapse, choking and vomiting from the pressure on his stomach and chest and that Webb saved his mate from being crushed by painstakingly clearing the debris off him.

When they were free to move around a little, they found an opening to the main shaft which was blocked off by wire mesh, but their plans to escape through there were ruined when a second rockslide sealed off the route and narrowly missed the two men.

So, there is quite a story to be told.

In their Footy Show appearance, Webb and Russell were effusive in their thanks to their rescuers.

"To all our mates who each day said goodbye to their families and loved ones, every shift they put their lives on the line for us in dangerous and unstable conditions to bring us out. We owe our lives to them," Russell said.

Webb was emotional in passing on the pair's condolences to the widow of Larry Knight, who died in the initial rockslide.

"To our fallen comrade Larry and to Jackie and the kids, our hearts bleed for you."

Webb and Russell attended a miners' meeting on Thursday to discuss the currently suspended mine's future.

They abstained from voting on whether the miners should return to work, but their colleagues voted in favour, apparently fearful that closure would cripple Beaconsfield and leave them without jobs.

"The boys (Webb and Russell) are going to be pretty well looked after by the looks of things, but the rest of us have to think about putting food on the table when it all blows over," one miner told the Daily Telegraph.

But the miners want a full inquiry into the collapse before they do return.

Judging by many of their asides while trapped in the mine, Webb and Russell won't be joining them.

They appear to be their own men.

The Telegraph reported that when rescuers told them they wouldn't be able to have a hot shower before they emerged from the mine, they became agitated.

"They wanted to have a shower before they fronted everyone but the rescuers wanted them in the ambulance and straight out," a friend of theirs told the Telegraph.

"They said, 'Bugger this, we stink and we've been down there for two weeks, we're not going to hug our wives like this."

- NZPA