The word « mine » is defined as an excavation in the earth from which you can extract a mineral or a fossil substance. Mines may either be located under the earth or at ground level. The site where all the buildings and equipments used in the extraction of a mineral and that is located close from the excavation area is also called a mine.
Mining is a practice that goes back to prehistorical ages. Since then, the demand for energy and minerals didn't stop to increase. Many countries are specialized into the mining of one or several minerals, depending on the type of natural resources (gold, diamonds..) buried in their lands. The United States used to have copper mines, when coal was abounded in France and England. Mine is a word also associated with the US' Gold Rush.
Before, many geographical areas used to live on these exploitations. But the work was harsh: miners had carry heavy loads and suffered from spine deformation. Some had to dig up minerals with pickaxes and other tools that were risky to handle. Mining usually meant that you worked under the ground: the lighting was dim and you were compelled to breath dust constantly.
Men had very difficult working hours. They left home early in the morning and came back late in the evening with their face and clothes covered with soot. Their body suffered from many pains and the average lifespan for workers in mining sites was very low. However, mining was an activity on which the economy of many towns was based. When mines were closed down because the profits drew from one mineral were insufficient, or because other minerals, like oil, became more fashionable, many people became unemployed. Great Britain suffered very much from Margaret Thatcher's decision to put an end to the excavation of coal; and strikes and demonstrations proved to be of no use to stop her.
A mine is also an exploding device. In some countries, whose lands turned into battlefields several times over the course of history, mines are half-buried in the ground and are still ready to explode...