Copiapo , Chile ( CNN ) -- Officials working to free 33 trapped miners in a collapsed Chilean mine said Tuesday they had cleared a drilling hole that was blocked by a shattered drill bit . Engineer Rene Aguilar said all the pieces of the broken drill bit that were in the hole drilled by the Plan B operation had been removed , and drilling could begin again soon . The Plan B drill is widening a narrow hole drilled when rescuers first searched for the miners after the mine collapsed August 5 . That drill was making the fastest progress of the other rescue operations -- Plan A and Plan C -- when it hit an obstruction , possibly a reinforcement beam , at a depth of 268 meters ( 879 feet ) . `` This bit was upside down and we used a spider ... to pull it out , '' Aguilar said , holding up the `` nose '' of the bit that he said weighed about 12 kilograms ( about 26 pounds ) . `` Spiders '' are specially designed claws that were made to pull out the broken drill pieces . A second customized bit was expected to arrive later Tuesday , and Aguilar said a camera was being lowered into the hole to check it out before drilling restarts . But a rescue crew member who is not authorized to speak to the media said workers are not certain all the pieces of the drill bit have been pulled out . `` We 're not out of the woods yet , there may be some steel down there , '' the crew member said . Meanwhile , the Plan A drill -- the only drill currently operating at the mine -- reached a depth of 283 meters ( 928 feet ) Tuesday , Aguilar said . The Plan C oil platform drill was under construction and about 70 percent finished . Drilling in that operation , which is expected to go faster than the other two , will likely begin September 20 , Aguilar said . The miners are trapped in a safety chamber , 2,300 feet underground . Officials have acknowledged that it could be November before they 're freed . Brandon Fisher , whose Pennsylvania-based company Center Rock Inc. is rushing the replacement bit for Plan B to the site , described what happened when the drill hit the beam . `` All of a sudden , the penetration rate stopped , the drill string torqued up violently , and we tried to pull off bottom , '' he said Monday . `` We were hung in the hole -- we worked at that for a while , and the bit passed out of that obstruction and then out of the hole . `` At that point in time , we really did n't know what the problem was until we cleared the rotary table and brought it back to surface . '' A power line dropped down to the men Sunday will allow them to install electrical lights in their safety chamber , officials said . They also were granted a long-standing request for cigarettes . Officials are sending down two packs a day to be split among the miners who smoke , Chilean Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said . Cigarettes were among the first requests made by some of the miners , but they were instead supplied with nicotine patches and gum . Upgrades made to ventilation in the mine led officials to decide to allow them to smoke , Golborne said . CNN 's Patrick Oppmann in Copiapo contributed to this report .
NEW : He says all the pieces of the drill bit have been removed . NEW : The Plan A operation reached a depth of 283 feet Tuesday . A rescue team member , however , says it 's not certain all the pieces are out . Today is Day 2 for the miners .