Chilean Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said on Monday that rescue work of the 33 miners trapped in a cooper mine in northern Chile is advancing.

Golborne said the Strata 950 drilling machine reached 90 meters deep into the mine.

The machine "has to drill according to the estimations: 700 meters and then change it for a machine with a drill for rocks; that will take some days," he said.

Meanwhile, the other machine T-130 "has drilled 26 meters, but it had to stop the work due to a failure in the connection cable," Golborne said.

Golborne said still they are waiting for the parts of the drilling machine used at oil drilling to arrive, for this machine could join the drilling works in several weeks.

The 33 miners were generally in good medical conditions, but some of them have already suffered skin scores and other minor ailments in the humid, dank conditions 700 meters underground.

The rescue work is expected to take two months at best. The miners have spent more than a month in the mine.