Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Unless you’ve been living under, ummm, a rock (sorry) for the last two months you’ll be aware that for more than two months, 33 miners have been trapped more than 700 metres beneath the Chilean desert.

And unless you’ve not turned on the TV or radio, or read a newspaper, or checked a news website in the past 24 hours, you’ll be aware that the last step of the rescue operation is underway. As we post, 7 miners have been rescued.

The story has been truly incredible, and if I were Chilean, I’d be feeling very proud of my country right about now.

Here at H&K, the Energy & Industrials (& International) team has a penchant for infrastructure (we’re cool, I promise) and we’ve been fascinated by the whole saga, particularly as it nears its close. The miners have survived longer below ground than the victims of any other mine collapse and will exit through the deepest rescue chute ever drilled.  The Telegraph has some great infographics on the rescue process and the technology behind it.

It’s a cliché, but the whole operation has been a fantastic showcase for the engineering industry.  Unfortunately, the people who dedicate themselves to making things work go unappreciated and unacknowledged as most of us conduct our day to day lives.

The Christian Science Monitor has a great piece on the PR winners and losers of the miner rescue:

• Geotec and its equipment manufacturers — Center Rock Inc. made the drill bit and Schramm Inc. made the truck-mounted drill: the big winners. The T-130, as the Schramm rig is known, has become a bit of a celebrity.
• Precision Drilling Corp., the Canadian company whose is drilling a backup rescue shaft. The company was little known in South America before the accident.  That’s changed, and I’d expect a few orders coming their way.

And last but not least a shout out to Zephyr Technologies, the Annapolis,Maryland-based maker of the remote monitors of vital signs that miners are wearing during their ascent. Anyone who has had the pleasure of spending a little bit of time with me knows I am fiercely proud of my home-town. As a native-Annipolitain, I can’t say I’m surprised that home-grown talent is contributing to the rescue efforts.  We’re a talented little town, I tell you!

Now, usually, I find the shameful self-promotion and exploitation mentioned in the CSM piece more than a little cringe-worthy (I know, perhaps a little ironic coming from a PR person) but, for these unsung heroes of the past 24 hours, I salute you.

The announcement of the new Shadow Cabinet today throws up a number of surprises, not least the appointment of Meg Hillier as Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary.

Hilary Benn, with three years’ Cabinet experience as Environment Secretary, was surely the more obvious choice but has moved sideways into the important, but obscure role of Shadow Leader of the Commons.

Hillier is only in her second term in Parliament, and before today had reached the heady heights of Minister at the Home Office – an experience that was not entirely problem-free.

A hint that new Labour leader Ed Miliband attaches less importance to the energy and climate change brief than certain others, or merely a reflection of the shallow pool of people he had to choose from after the divisions of the Blair/Brown years? Given that Miliband himself held the brief until being chosen as Labour leader, probably the latter.

It will be interesing to see how Hillier fares against one of the big beasts of the Coalition…