gold mine

American  

noun

• gold mines
  plural

1. a mine yielding gold.

2. a source of great wealth or profit, or any desirable thing.

3. a copious source or reserve of something required.

   a gold mine of information about antiques.

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gold mine British  

noun

1. a place where gold ore is mined

2. a source of great wealth, profit, etc

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gold mine Idioms  

1. A rich, plentiful source of wealth or some other desirable thing, as in That business proved to be a gold mine, or She's a gold mine of information about the industry. [First half of 1800s]

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• gold-miner
  noun
• gold-mining
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• gold mines
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gold mine

late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gold mine

Army reopened a gold mine in Idaho to access a vital chemical byproduct used in nearly a third of all military ammunition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

In December, Washington pledged $1.25 billion for Balochistan's Reko Diq copper and gold mine.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

About 27 miles to the south of Tonopah, near the town of Goldfield, a new gold mine is set to open in 2028.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026

"Our pastures have been closed off because of an exploratory drilling plan for a gold mine," said Nuriye Dilek, a 48-year-old livestock farmer.

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

And whatever the next words were: “The time I had to escape from Moscow?” or “The time I lost an Alaskan gold mine, worth a fortune?” or “The cattle stampede on the pampas?,”

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman