Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom. When the top of the excavation is the ground surface, it is referred to as a shaft or portal; when the top of the excavation is underground, it is called a winze.
Read more about Shaft Mining: Off-shaft Access, Surface Facilities, Shaft Lining, Shaft Compartments
Famous quotes containing the words shaft and/or mining:
“The subterranean miner that works in us all, how can one tell whither leads his shaft by the ever shifting, muffled sound of his pick?”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“It’s a mining town in lotus land.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)