The mood was sombre but determined at Beaconsfield Gold Mine, as explosive specialists set small charges in an attempt to cut through the final yards of rock and free Brant Webb, 37 and Todd Russell, 34.

Two Australian miners trapped for more than a week in a tiny cage more than a half mile underground were today given iPods to help them while away the hours as rescuers prepared to start drilling them an escape tunnel.

Two men entombed in an Australian gold mine for a week will probably be freed without major medical problems, a rescue official said today, as a special drill was assembled to bore through tonnes of collapsed rock.