HUNTINGTON, Utah (Reuters) - Rescuers have drilled to within a few hundred feet of six trapped miners in Utah and expect to reach them with a small bore hole on Thursday afternoon, the mine's co-owner said.

A section of the coal mine collapsed early on Monday and it is hoped a microphone lowered through the bore hole will tell rescuers whether the men are still alive.

"The miners are at approximately 1,500 to 1,600 feet deep so we should access them with that 2-1/2 inch bore hole sometime this afternoon," mine co-owner Robert Murray told CNN on Thursday.

A second bore hole, nearly 9 inches in diameter, is also being drilled and should reach the area where the men are believed to be sometime on Friday, Murray said.

"Through those two bore holes we can provide sustenance, communication, anything the miners need if they are alive and survived the concussion of the seismic event that caused the collapse," he said.

Murray has insisted an earthquake caused the collapse, while geologists say seismic activity detected at roughly the same time was probably caused by the cave-in.