Miners Dead? Purposely

Im not sure if anyone else has seen the interview with the owner of the mining company recently. He came across as insincere and pretentious. I really believe that those miners were never meant to come out of that mine alive. I started thinking about the purpose of having them killed. Only thing I can come up with is, that they may have found something while digging. A 3 day rescue turning into a month long rescue? Anybody else been thinking the same thing? I thought it could have been a discovery of gold that the owner decided he wasn't sharing anymore.

There is a thread about the Utah mine owner here:

Utah Mine collapse? What's with the owner?

I can think of lots of simple reasons why the mine owner would want to drag out a rescue/recovery. Maybe he's nuts? Maybe he's so greedy or desperate that he doesn't want to ruin any coal deposits that might be harvested later. Maybe he's afraid the friction of a fast dig would ignite the coal. Maybe he doesn't want anyone to die trying to rescue miners who may or may not be alive. Schrödinger's miners?
And I do realize I'm making light of suffering.
The behavior of the mine owner is simply bizarre. A normal person would throw every resource into a rescue, including risking the lives of willing volunteers. It's part of human nature.

But this is Skunk Works, so let's consider some other possibilities... The mine owner found gold, that's a good one Here Now.
What if there's an unstable mineral in or near the coal deposits? What if the miners found a buried artifact? What if said artifact transported the miners elsewhere, which is why the little tunnels being dug find only empty spaces?
The miners could have discovered an underground installation, government or otherwise; and the rescue workers are being directed to dig in the wrong place.
Anyone else have a theory? The mine owner is certainly not acting like a normal person.

A much more likely answer is the mine owner has been cutting corners when it comes to safety, and he knows his butt is about to be in a sling when the investigation of why the mine collapsed gets underway.

Originally posted by tebyen
A much more likely answer is the mine owner has been cutting corners when it comes to safety, and he knows his butt is about to be in a sling when the investigation of why the mine collapsed gets underway.

Very true.

These rescues are pretty time consuming and given the fact that the cameras havent seen them, no contact from inside the mine, etc I think it is safe to assume that they were killed when the cave in occurred.

Who handles these rescues? Does a local agency have a mine rescue team (ex. Fire Dept., law enforcement, etc) or is it done by whatever company operates the mine using workers that were off at the time of the mine disaster or who work at other mines?

Okay, so does anybody else think something is up about this mining situation? Really, its just a story that get's stranger and stranger.