There were 4 notes from the Chilean miners. Here are the other 2 they are not showing.

[Magda Hassan]

By MATT MOFFETT

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile—As Chilean government rescuers prepare to start the monthslong task of digging out 33 miners trapped half a mile below ground, questions are emerging about whether the men will be paid during their ordeal.
The firm that ran the mine, Cia. Minera San Esteban Primera, has said it may have to declare bankruptcy, because of the shutdown of the mine and the flurry of government investigations and civil actions it is facing. The local mining union has asked the government to step in and meet the San José payroll starting in September. But on Monday, government officials said that, while they are keen to assist the miners, the government isn't legally permitted to pay their salaries.
The salary debate unfolded Monday as the government made final preparations to start using a massive 30-ton drill to burrow down to where the miners have been holed up since Aug. 5. The government said it could take three to four months to reach the miners and then hoist them out.
The Miners

See the 33 men trapped underground since Aug. 5.
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Chile's Efforts to Rescue Miners

See key dates in the rescue effort.
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Luis Hidalgo/Associated Press Relatives waited outside the collapsed mine Aug. 9.





In the meantime, the chief of the San José union, Evelyn Olmos, asked the government to assume San Esteban Primera's payroll responsibilities, so that "the company is in debt to the government, but not to the workers."
A labor ministry subsecretary, Bruno Baranda, replied that the government "cannot legally, within the regulations, take over labor responsibilities such as paying salary or pension benefits." He and other government officials said the government had planned to offer the miners training and assistance in finding other jobs.
That doesn't answer the question of how the workers' families will survive until they are rescued. Many families have been camped out in a tent city above the mine, dubbed Camp Hope, where they have received food and counseling from the government.
"People have been generous, but we wonder what happens when the September salary is due," said Blanca Rojas, whose brother Esteban is trapped in the mine. "More than anything, we want Esteban out of the mine, but his family must eat." Analysts said it was likely the government would find some way out of the impasse to avoid a political black eye.