drift mine
Americannoun
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a mine the opening of which is dug into an outcrop of coal or ore.
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an underground placer mine.
Etymology
Origin of drift mine
An Americanism dating back to 1885–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It's a decade since four miners were killed when water rushed into a south Wales drift mine.
From BBC • Sep. 14, 2021
A drift mine is one that miners can walk into rather than require a lift down to the coalface.
From BBC • Aug. 20, 2013
Workers at Wales' largest drift mine will find out later how many jobs will be lost in cutbacks.
From BBC • Aug. 20, 2013
The colliery is a drift mine, a relatively low-cost form of underground mining, when tunnels -- drifts -- are dug horizontally into rock, rather than directly downwards.
From Reuters • Sep. 16, 2011
The plan is to create a drift mine – cheaper than deep mining and less destructive to the environment than open-cast.
From Newsweek
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
