So near, but so far, as rescuers battle to save trapped miners

BEACONSFIELD - They've spent almost 12 days trapped under ground but last night rescuers, working on their backs, began chipping their way, often by hand, through steel-hard rock towards two Tasmanian miners entombed 1km below ground.

This morning, Sky News reported that the rescue could be completed some time after dawn, which is at about 9am NZ time. But it later revised that to say there was no word on the timing.

As they edged forward in the most delicate and dangerous final metres, rescuers listened for any warning of a further fatal collapse in the Beaconsfield coalmine that on Anzac Day trapped Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, and killed 44-year-old Larry Knight.

"The Earth talks, according to these miners," Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten said. "Quite often they can hear the environment around them moving, or at least making noises. The blokes say you can't ultimately predict stability, but (the mine) is as stable as could be hoped for in the current climate."

Rock five times as hard as driveway cement has thwarted rescuers, slowing the boring of a 1m diameter tunnel beneath the cavity in which Webb and Russell are trapped in an iron cage.

On Friday night, the rods connecting the header of the raisebore, a giant rock-eater with a 1.7m head that chews obstacles to dust, began vibrating, causing a whipping action that threatened the stability of the tunnel. It took time to correct that.

Then rescue planners changed their plan of attack, deciding to stop short of the trapped men's tiny cavity, remove and dismantle the raisebore - involving several hours' more work - and tackle the last few metres by hand.

Working within a diameter of just 1m, miners are using picks, mini-pneumatic drills, diamond cutters and chemicals to expand and break down the rock to finally break through.

Inside the cavity, Russell and Webb had overnight cemented the loose dirt and rubble around their cage to prevent its collapse when the rescuers opened their life-saving hole.

Hanging on the cage were grab-bags with iPods, messages and other small items, ready to snatch as they slid out.

Late last night, no one could say when the breakthrough would come.

"I'm not going to predict a time," Shorten said. "Any artificial deadline would be inappropriate."

Webb, Russell and Knight joined the 14 other men of the Anzac Day night shift, descending the 400m Hart Shaft at 6pm and driving in Nissan four-wheel-drive utes through a 5km labyrinth to the face of the mine's gold-bearing vein.

The mines are vast - large enough for cement-mixers to drive through and three times the height ofa truck.

Knight climbed into the cab of a telehandler - a low-slung tractor with a steel cherry-picker cage on extendable forks at the front, used to reinforce tunnel walls.

At 9.23pm, with a bang that shook houses and woke people on the surface, a tremor measuring 2.2 on the Richter scale rocked Beaconsfield, its epicentre close to the mine.

In the shafts, 14 men ran for shelter and made it back to the surface.

The tremor shattered the rock above the three men in the telehandler. Knight was killed instantly.

But a giant slab of rock saved his mates, lodging above the 2m by 1.2m by 1.5m cage and keeping tonnes of debris at bay.

"All they said was it was very quick and they didn't have any warning," said paramedic Karen Pendrey.

For Webb and Russell, trapped in pitch darkness in stifling humidity and 35C heat, the long wait to hear the sounds of rescue began.

To survive, they had only a trickle of water - and the certainty that their mates would be coming for them.

Webb grew up in Bowen, northern Queensland, where he married his high school sweetheart, Rachel. He has been a Beaconsfield miner for five years, after skippering a Queensland prawn trawler.

His 18-year-old twins, Zach and Zoe know what their dad will want when he surfaces - bacon, eggs and a cold beer.

Russell is a local hero, Beaconsfield born and bred, one of the town's AFL stars, married to Caroline and father of Trent, 11, Maddison, 9, and Liam, 5.

He's a big, tattooed man with a goatee, a teetotaller and third-generation volunteer fireman.

On the surface, the town poured out to await the men's fate.

On Thursday, grim-faced mine manager Matthew Gill walked out to face the horde of television cameras camped outside the mine with the news that a body had been found.

The dead man was later confirmed as Knight, his body found by the remote camera on a front-end loader eating its way through the rubble.

And there was more bad news: the wreckage had blocked the path forward, meaning another route had to be found.

Five days into the rescue, with teams working 12-hour shifts way below ground, the mine issued a statement with astounding news: "A short time ago, rescuers at the Beaconsfield mine believe they have located the two miners missing since last Tuesday night. Indications are that the two men are still alive." Beaconsfield simply erupted. People flocked, cheering, into the streets.

"My head is just spinning with pure relief and joy," Rachel Webb told reporters. "I can't describe it."

But jubilation settled down to a long, anxious wait. In the cage Webb and Russell's humour and fortitude has amazed rescuers. They called their cage a two-star hotel: "And we're the stars. There are a number of words that come to mind," said Ambulance Service paramedic Ian Hart, "One of them is humbled. They're amazing." They were passed iPods and listened to American metal rockers the Foo Fighters. The band's lead singer, Dave Grohl, faxed the trapped miners an invitation to join him for a beer when they came out.

Their physical condition, paramedics said, was far better than when they were first found, although both were now "hairy - very hairy".