you might want to get your DK in there to kill the guys in the beginning, at least so none of your lowbies will pull aggro by being too low.
the trick with lowbies is this, bring the mobs to them. dont have them follow you.
in vc, i'd go around and grab everyone in the cave, as i run back to the beginning, they would all be attacking the main instead of the lowbies.
in vc, mobs die too fast to spread diseases, so just DnD them. spread one disease if you get lucky and find an elite. most miners are non-elite.