Mine World Map
Travel guides & inspiration
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The California Gold Rush Explained
James Marshall's discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in January 1848 set off the largest mass migration in 19th-century American history. The Gold Rush reshaped California, the Unit
Kongsberg Silver Mines: A Deep Dive into Norway's Royal Heritage
From 1623 to 1958 the silver mines of Kongsberg produced 1.35 million kg of silver under royal Danish-Norwegian ownership. The visitor mine south-west of Oslo is one of the deepest
Idrija Mercury Mine: A Deep Dive into Slovenia's UNESCO Industrial Heritage
Idrija in western Slovenia was Europe's second-largest mercury producer for 500 years. Inscribed jointly with Almadén in 2012, the mine, the museum and the town form one of the wor
Kiruna Iron Mine: A Deep Dive into the World's Largest Underground Iron Operation
The Kirunavaara iron deposit in Swedish Lapland produces high-grade magnetite ore that has fed European steel for over a century. The mine is now so vast that the city above it is
Read more →Coober Pedy Opal Fields: A Deep Dive into the Underground Town
Coober Pedy in the South Australian desert produces 70 % of the world's gem-quality opal — and half its population lives underground to escape 45 °C summer heat. It is one of the s
Read more →Gold Reef City and the Witwatersrand: A Deep Dive
The 1886 discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand created Johannesburg and the modern South African state. The visitor mine at Gold Reef City, on a closed shaft of the Crown Mines, p
Read more →El Teniente: A Deep Dive into the World's Largest Underground Copper Mine
El Teniente, high in the Chilean Andes south of Santiago, is the largest underground copper mine in the world — and the longest continuously operated copper mine anywhere. Sewell,
Read more →Sutter's Mill and the California Gold Rush: A Deep Dive
On 24 January 1848 James W. Marshall picked a small gold nugget from the tailrace of the sawmill he was building for John Sutter on the American River. The discovery triggered the
Read more →Graphite Mining and Its Modern Uses
From the pencil quarries of Cumbria to the anodes of lithium-ion batteries, follow the quiet rise of graphite from a curiosity to a strategic mineral.
Read more →Borax and the Twenty-Mule Team
How a humble desert mineral and the mule-team wagons that hauled it out of Death Valley became one of the most enduring icons of the American West.
Read more →Potosí and Cerro Rico: A Deep Dive into the Mountain That Built an Empire
Cerro Rico de Potosí, the conical mountain above the Bolivian altiplano, was the single richest silver source in human history. From 1545 to 1825 perhaps 50 000 tonnes of silver we
Read more →Sulfur Mining and Volcanic Extraction
From the sweltering mines of Sicily to the glowing crater of Kawah Ijen, the strange and dangerous story of how humans have mined sulfur.
Read more →Phosphate Mining and the Fertiliser Industry
The mined rock that feeds modern agriculture, why its geography is dangerously concentrated, and why phosphorus is a finite nutrient with no substitute.
Read more →Coltan and Conflict Minerals, Explained
How an obscure ore behind the capacitors in your phone became a byword for conflict minerals and supply-chain ethics.
Read more →Asbestos Mining and Its Tragic Legacy
Once marketed as a miracle mineral, asbestos left behind a legacy of fatal disease and contaminated towns that the world is still reckoning with.
Read more →