mine tunnel
Ore extraction corridor
A mine tunnel is a horizontal or nearly horizontal passageway dug into the earth for extracting minerals, ore, or coal.
Unlike vertical shafts, tunnels allow workers and equipment to move laterally through a deposit: The mine tunnel extended half a mile into the hillside.
Also called an adit when it opens to the surface.
- shaftNarrow vertical passage
- excavationAct of unearthing
- oreMetal-bearing rock
- coalCombustible sedimentary rock
- coal seamUnderground fuel deposit layer
underground · darkness · pickaxe · minecart · rail tracks · headlamp · hard hat · cavern · collapse · cave in · support · timber · ventilation · drift · adit · dead end · passage · canary
excavation method/structure
mine tunnelopen pit
Surface-level excavation site
open-pit mine · surface mine · strip mine · quarry · mountaintop removal
mine, tunnel, mines, mined, mining, miner, miners, tunnels, tunneled