Mine exploration

Mine exploration typically requires equipment such as helmets, head lamps, Wellington boots, and climbing gear.

Conversely, gaining access to other mines may require technical skills such as rappelling or single rope technique.

Mine explorers share an unspoken code of ethics, that of leaving sites in the same condition as they were found.

A common phrase illustrating this viewpoint is the Baltimore Grotto caving society's motto: "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints."

Relics and artifacts found in abandoned mine workings may include equipment such as pumps, cranes, drills, narrow gauge railway tracks, wagons and locomotives.

Abandoned mines may occasionally contain larger features such as timber bridges, cable railways, or waterwheels.

Some stopes are narrow and convoluted (explorers like to call them "spider holes"); others resemble giant rooms.

One half is a straight drop to the bottom and is used for haulage, and the other section is a series of platforms, 10 or more feet apart, with holes cut in them in an alternating manner.

Some examples of mines frequented by explorers includes: Britain's man-made underground world is extensive.

Some of the more extensive tunnel systems span mountain ranges or extend underneath populous cities.