The evacuation process for the 33 miners trapped for more than two months will probably begin on Wednesday, according to Chile's mining minister.

That's because the rescue team has decided to reinforce less than 96 meters of the rescue shaft in steel pipe.

The rest of the escape shaft is exposed rock, and the rescue team has decided it's strong enough to provide for a smooth ride for the miners' escape capsule.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne set the date after the shaft was inspected with a video camera on Saturday following the completion of the hole earlier in the day, a success that set off celebrations by the miners underground and by their families and rescue workers on the surface.

Golborne and other government officials have insisted the decision on whether to reinforce the whole shaft would be purely technical, based on the evidence and the expertise of a team of eight geologists and mining engineers.

Golborne said the hole is in very good condition, and doesn't need to be cased completely.

He said 16 pipes, each six meters long, would be welded together and inserted into the top of the hole, which curves like a waterfall at first before becoming nearly vertical for most of its depth. The work would begin immediately, he said.