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)
“Any relation to the land, the habit of tilling it, or mining it, or even hunting on it, generates the feeling of patriotism. He who keeps shop on it, or he who merely uses it as a support to his desk and ledger, or to his manufactory, values it less.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)