The plateau consists of uplifted reef limestones of Paleozoic age, which were thickened by overfolding during the Akiyoshidai orogenic movement.

Subsequent erosion has created an undulating karst landscape dimpled with many dolines and countless limestone pinnacles up to two meters in height.

As farming began in Japan, the local people eventually replaced the forested landscape with Japanese pampas grass for feeding their animals and thatching houses.

After the Meiji restoration, the area was divided into 13 villages within Mine District, Yamaguchi with the creation of the modern municipalities system.

The city of Mine was created by the merger of Isa and Omine with the villages of Ofuku, Nishiatsu and Higashiatsu on March 31, 1954.

Mine has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 16 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Yamaguchi 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Mine developed as an industrial city due to the production of anthracite and limestone from the Ōmine Coal Field after the Meiji Restoration.