Montreal — The Canadian Press Published on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 5:07PM EDT Last updated on Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009 12:17PM EST

Emergency workers will likely be able to enter the Metanor Resources gold mine Sunday afternoon to search for three missing miners.

Pierre Bernaquez, superintendent of human resources for Metanor, said their chances of survival are slim.

But he said he’s hopeful the three men found refuge in a pocket of air in the mine’s eleventh level, some 485 metres below ground.

Bruno Goulet, 36, Dominico Bollini, 44, and Marc Guay, 31 were doing repair work in a mine shaft at the Bachelor Lake facility near the village of Desmaraisville, Que., late Friday night when the part of the mine they were working in flooded with water, for reasons the mine owners say remain unclear.

Mr. Goulet and Mr. Bollini, who both work for Metanor Resources, and Mr. Guay, an employee of mining contractor Montali, descended at 11:30 Friday night to level 11 and 12 in the underground mine.

When the elevator was pulled back up, it was empty.

Emergency workers and a team of medics were called to the scene and a search was immediately put in place to find the men. Pumps were also brought in to drain the two levels.

The workers health and safety commission and the Quebec provincial police are also on hand to investigate the cause of the accident.

Mr. Bernaquez said the pumping is taking longer than expected.

“It’s like a small lake,” he said.

The mine is some 600 kilometres north of Montreal or 225 kilometres northeast of Val d'Or.

All mining operations are currently suspended.