TORONTO -

Canadians who were transfixed by the rescue of 33 Chilean miners trapped underground last year now have a chance to get closer to the drama.

One of the rescue capsules built to extract the men from 700 metres of rock in October made its North American debut in Toronto Sunday, displayed at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada's international convention.

The metal capsule was painted in Chile's national colours of white, red and blue with scratches and streaks of rust marking its journey into the depths of the earth.

The 53-centimetre wide, bullet-shaped pod was something of a celebrity at the convention, commanding a constant crowd which included Chile's Minister of Mining Laurence Golborne, who led the team responsible for the rescue.

"This capsule represents the Chilean people," said Golborne as he stood before the capsule that has been named the Fenix. "We never gave up and we fight until we obtain what we got, in this case we rescued our countrymen that were trapped."

Golborne added that the capsule, which helped bring the miners to the surface after 69 days trapped in the San Jose mine, marked a significant chapter in Chile's history

"It was a very, very emotive moment," he said of the capsule's rescue mission. "A moment of union, a moment of strength where we finally rescued 33 people that were trapped."

Marc Gasparotto was among a group from Thunder Bay, Ont., who got to take a picture with Golborne in front of the capsule.

"Honestly it was monumental that something like that could be used to rescue 33 miners," said the 21-year-old.

Gasparotto, who followed the miners' story on the news when it took place, said looking at the capsule's worn exterior brought him a lot closer to the harrowing rescue.

"It's quite an experience," he said. "It shines a light on the actual value of a worker's life."

The capsule is on display in Toronto until Wednesday after which it will make its way to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

Dave Prince, one of many who posed with the capsule, said the Fenix was a good visual reminder of the risks miners face every day.

"I think we'd forgotten almost about the whole ordeal now that it's been that many months," the Toronto resident said. "This one certainly gave you a sense of how difficult it was for those miners to get out and how difficult it was to build a capsule that would sustain itself," he said.

Some observers, like Sarah Jones, spent many minutes scrutinizing the narrow metal cage that made up much of the capsule and couldn't imagine having to endure even five minutes in it, let alone the 16 it took most of the miners to come up a dark, narrow shaft.

"It's really interesting seeing it in person and thinking what the miners must have gone through," said the Toronto university student. "It's so small compared to what I thought."

Others were simply amazed to be within reach of the rescue pod itself.

"It feels good being next to something that's actually helped save lives," said Bento Aguiar. "I can't believe they actually went all the way down there with that thing and brought people up."

Mining experts who weighed in on the capsule said such an apparatus could potentially be used for future rescue missions, but employing it would depend on the situation.

"I don't see any reason why it couldn't be used anywhere in the world," said Bill Mercer, past PDAC president and current chair of its health and safety committee. "The difficult part wouldn't be using the capsule, it would be drilling the hole."

Mercer explained that using a capsule like the Fenix would depend on access to a mine site and how deep a rescue mission had to go. It's also an option that would probably only be used if others had to be ruled out, he said.

"Usually people are trying to rescue people quicker. Usually there's other ways to get to them," he said. "We should have a situation in Canada where this shouldn't happen in the first place."

Still, Mercer said the ingenuity of the capsule itself had to be noted.

"It took some imagination," he said. "That's why I guess the world was watching because it was such an amazing thing they could rescue people with this little capsule from so deep in the earth."