Show Mines


A show mine is a mine which is accessible to visitors, a mine is an industrial facility for the underground extraction of mineral resources. Alternative terms are show mine, visitor mine, tourist mine and exhibition mine.

There are many mines, all over the world, producing any imaginable natural resource. Some are on the surface, like the Big Pit in Utah, USA, but most are deep inside the Earth. Some mines have thousands of years of history, others are very new.

Most of the mines are closed today, because their ore is not valuable enough, too expensive to get, or exhausted. And so, in many countries of the world, those mines were reactivated for various purposes. The most common one is a so-called show mine or exhibition mine, a sort of realistic museum of mining history, which includes an underground tour. Sometimes the emphasis is more on the museum, sometimes more on the underground tour.

Less common, but still important is the usage of mines for healing. There were rumours from many mines that miners had gone down with an illness and returned symptom-free. The effect may be based on various mechanisms. Speleotherapy, radon therapy, halotherapy and simple thermal baths are the most important. Speleotherapy is widely used to treat respiratory diseases thanks to the absence of dust, high humidity and high CO2 content of the air. Despite its name, it is offered in both caves and mines. In addition, there is halotherapy in salt mines, radon healing tunnels and hot springs, which is probably more likely to be found in mines.

And there is the use as an event location, for concerts, disco, festivals, and theater. And even for sports like mountain bike hikes, runs, boat tours, or diving they can be used.

We have decided to primarily use the term show mine on showcaves.com. The reason for this is simple: language is constantly changing, but the terms "show cave" and "show mine" are generally supported by people and organizations working in this field. The aim is to reduce the number of alternative terms and to have a clearly defined term for literature and scientific papers.



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