Line #76 Main/AbandonedMine


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10	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/abandoned_mine1.png]]]]
11	[[caption-width-right:350:Abandoned by miners, found by [[YouMeddlingKids nosy minors]].]]
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16
17	->''“The vast mines of Donkey Kong Country have been stripped of any ore they may have once contained. All the tools of the miners remain, however, from mine carts to rickety scaffolding.”''
18	-->--''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' instruction booklet.
19
20	Maybe there's nothing left to mine. Maybe it was closed because of safety issues. Maybe the company that owned it went bankrupt. Maybe something terrible happened there. Maybe the miners DugTooDeep. Whatever the reason, this mine is now abandoned and has probably been that way for some time. That does not, however, mean that it is empty. An abandoned mine is the perfect place for young characters to get lost or trapped, for heroes to find a valuable clue or some sort of treasure, or for villains, outlaws, and horror movie monsters to lurk.
21
22	It may or may not be specified what was mined there in the first place, and [[RollercoasterMine mine cart rides]] may or may not be available. In an AcceptableBreakFromReality, even if the mine was shuttered years ago, an emergency lighting system or lanterns are still available (without this convention, abandoned mine scenes would be too dark for the characters or audience to see anything).
23
24	Watch out for [[InvoluntaryGroupSplit falling rocks and other obstacles]]. The lost characters may be able to find [[AWayOutOfACaveIn an escape tunnel or exit]]. A few fictional abandoned mines are a disguised entrance to an ElaborateUndergroundBase.
25
26	Note: In real life, mines are generally devoid of human activity any time when the miners are not working. However, this trope implies that the mine in question isn't just "not currently in use", but "people have stopped using this".
27
28	A SubTrope of AbandonedArea. In video games, this may serve as an UndergroundLevel. For other underground places, see the SubterraneanIndex.
29
30	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] that kind of [[LandMineGoesClick mine]].
31
32	----
33	!!Examples:
34
35	[[foldercontrol]]
36
37	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
38	* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In "Heavy Metal Queen", Spike, Faye, and a space trucker chase down a bounty into an abandoned mining complex on an asteroid.
39	* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheGalaxySuperExpress'' has the gang, aboard the titular express, crashing on an empty mining planet after their fuel was sabotaged. There's an abandoned mine shaft nearby containing a second express, which is still functioning thanks to RagnarokProofing -- the heroes obtain it to make an escape afterwards.
40	* The city of Xenotime in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' has gold mines long emptied and are since used by the Tringham brothers to try to make a PhilosophersStone, funded by Mugear, who want to remake the city wealthy again.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Comic Books]]
44	* In ''ComicBook/{{Dinocorps}}'', Carl gets lost inside a deserted mine and discovers the dinosaurs' cryogenic chambers while working on a science project.
45	* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'': The third (and last) Creator/CarlBarks story featuring Flintheart Glomgold was about an abandoned gold mine being put for auction in Africa. Both Scrooge and Flintheart believed the mine to still have gold and Glomgold tried to prevent Scrooge from attending the auction. [[spoiler:The story had NoEnding as we never get to know who won the auction or if the mine had enough gold to be worth the trouble]].
46	* In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'' the Mane 6 travel through one to begin their journey to the Changeling Kingdom.
47	* In ''ComicBook/WeStandOnGuard'', a Canadian [[LaResistance resistance group]] called the Two-Fours operate against the American occupation force out of a partially-collapsed mine near Yellowknife.
48	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]] [[ComicBook/WonderWomanNumberOne "The Greatest Feat of Daring"]]: Diana Prince, ComicBook/EttaCandy and Mint Candy rescue a beautiful young Mexican woman named Pepita who'd been tossed down an abandoned mine shaft near the Bar-L Ranch which the Candys own.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Fan Works]]
52	* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': In [[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/dungeon-keeper-ami-sailor-moon-dungeon-keeper-story-only-thread.30066/post-6355838 "A Hairy Situation"]], Ami is expanding an abandoned gold mine for the habitation of over 8000 people.
53	* In ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World'', the four find a map of Boidan Mine. When George expresses skepticism that they would want to waste time going to a mine, he's told that those old mines are full of adventure and treasure. This one in particular must have something interesting because it takes a rare and expensive jump gem to get there. Ultimately the four do go there, but they never make it into the mine because they discover that another party of adventurers has beaten them there. They simply wait for the adventurers to emerge with their spoils and hilarity ensues.
54	* Jebediah's gold mine in ''Fanfic/OliviaGoesWest'', a crossover between ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' and ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''. It serves as one of the main bases of operations for the bad guys and is also one of the few elements borrowed from ''Fievel's American Tails'' series (see below in the Western Animation section). [[spoiler:The last showdown also happens there, in [[RollercoasterMine a minecart moving down the mineshaft]], no less.]]
55	* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': There's one of these in the mountain containing the Stone Nest that was used to excavate Meridian's largest deposit of light crystals before Phobos returned to the Mogriffs the mountain his great-grandmother conquered from them. [[spoiler:While fleeing from the [[SuperPersistentPredator Frostbiter]], Vera and three of her friends end up in the mines through a ventilation tunnel. A squad of Phobos loyalists and Shadowkhan led by Jade chase them through the tunnels as they get nearer the Mogriffs' nest. At one point, the intruders are able to escape from [[AxCrazy Tyrian]] by weaponizing the explosive coal dust. Vera later does the same with Jade to bring a tunnel down on her (though it only ends up [[RageBreakingPoint pissing her off]]) while she flees in a minecart that brings her to the Mogriffs' nest.]]
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
59	%%* The 2012 horror film ''Film/AbandonedMine'' takes place, unsurprisingly, inside one of these.
60	* In ''Film/{{Bats}}'', the killer bats are roosting in the old Black Rock Mine. This is where the final confrontation between human and bat takes place.
61	* In ''Film/{{Blackthorn}}'', Eduardo begs Blackthorn to save him, and offers to share part of the $50,000 he stole from Simón Patiño, a powerful Bolivian industrialist and mine owner. The money is hidden in an abandoned mine, and he will compensate Blackthorn for his help.
62	* The eponymous creatures in ''Film/TheBoogens'' reside in an abandoned gold mine, who are set loose when the place is reopened.
63	* An abandoned copper mine shows up in ''Film/{{Broken Arrow\|1996}}'', where Vic Deakins sets off one of two stolen thermonuclear bombs to show the government that he means business.
64	* The climax of ''Film/TheBurning'' takes place in the ruins of an abandoned copper mine.
65	* An inactive mine is a plot point in ''Film/DantesPeak''. Wando's son uses it as a hideout/clubhouse, and when the volcano erupts, it's where Harry and the Wando family hole up until help arrives.
66	* In ''Film/DemonKnight'', the occupants of the hotel discover an old mine shaft that abuts the wall of the basement. Despite Brayker's exhortations not to, they break through the wall and attempt to escape through the mine. However, they discover the demons are already in the mine and are attacked and forced to retreat back to the hotel.
67	* The CannibalClan in ''Film/EvilBreedTheLegendOfSamhain'' dwell in an abandoned copper mine.
68	* ''Film/TheEvilThatMenDo'': The hitman Holland is sent to kill a TortureTechnician whom he lures out by kidnapping his sister, ostensibly for ransom. He sets up the ransom exchange in an abandoned opal mine, only to find when he gets there that it's full of poor peasants chipping away at the workings in the hope of finding leftover opals. [[spoiler:The peasants end up doing his job for him because they're all former victims of the torturer.]]
69	* ''Film/{{Fauve}}'': Two young boys go playing in an abandoned open-pit asbestos mine. Tragedy ensues.
70	* ''Film/GhostbustersAfterlife'': An abandoned mine near Summerville, Oklahoma turns out to have been once owned by Ivo Shandor. It further turned out to be the place where he and his cult of Gozer worshipers had mined the pure selenium used in the construction of Spook Central. Shandor was entombed in the mine after his death.
71	* In ''Film/TheGreatOutdoors'', Cara and Mara, and briefly their father, end up trapped for a period in an abandoned mine with some old, wet dynamite. [[spoiler:And an old, wet bear. The bear is substantially more volatile.]]
72	* In ''Film/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth2008'', shortly after taking refuge in a cave on the side of an Icelandic volcano, the protagonists discover a lava tube that leads to an abandoned mineshaft. Cheesy MinecartMadness ensues.
73	%%* Shows up in ''Film/MyBloodyValentine'' as the site for a party.
74	* In ''Film/NathansKingdom'', Nathan and Laura travel through one, leading to an animated sequence where they try to avoid getting eaten by the ghouls that inhabit the mine.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Literature]]
78	* ''Literature/TheBobbseyTwins'': In ''The Bobbsey Twins in the Mystery Cave,'' they discover an abandoned mine, which they propose to renovate as a tourist attraction. They also find that it is directly adjacent to a cave, with an underground lake that is connected via an underground river to a local above-ground lake. They also find some unauthorized persons attempting to work the mine.
79	* In the ''Literature/{{Bounders}}'' novel ''The Tundra Trials'', Jasper and Mira are trapped outside after dark on the tundra planet Gulaga. They shelter in an abandoned mine that turns out to be inhabited by rogue Tunnelers, who lead them back to [[UndergroundCity Gulagaven]] through side tunnels.
80	* ''Literature/DarkDaysOfHamburgerHalpin'' is about children exploring an abandoned coal mine.
81	* ''Literature/DeadSilver'' has the main characters attempting to search these. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Reality ensues]] when the company that owns the land refuses to let them, citing liability issues.
82	* An abandoned mine is the setting of a ghost scare prank in one of ''Literature/TheGreatBrain'' books.
83	* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'''s Farthen Dur. Orik tells Eragonabout many tunnels underneath the city, "uninhabited since the day they were mined", which is where a part of the Battle of Farthen Dur takes place.
84	%%* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Moria is both this and a GhostCity.
85	* In ''Literature/TheLostRedeemer'', Starglade is in abandoned mining town.
86	* In ''Literature/TheMinesOfFalun'' it is more like a Haunted Mine, but due to certain quakes, it does become abandoned from time to time.
87	* The Mac Mordain Cadal in ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' as well as the game based on it, ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor''. The dwarves are trying to get it un-abandoned, though.
88	* The climax of ''Literature/{{Soulmate}}'' takes place in an abandoned mine deep in the Nevada desert where [[spoiler:Maya]] has taken Hannah after abducting her. Hannah is able to find a piece of quartz and fashion a blade out of it, which she then uses to whittle a piece of wood into a stake (a suitable weapon to use against a vampire). She also considers knocking down a beam to collapse the roof on herself if worst comes to worst, as it's better than what [[spoiler:Maya]] has in store for her. Given that the entire plot began back when people lived in caves, it's also appropriate it finishes underground.
89	* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', the "human view" map reveals the cave that the Moonstone is found in to be an abandoned mine.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
93	%%* In an episode of ''Series/ManVsWild'', Bear Grylls explores one.
94	* In an episode of ''Series/{{Merlin\|2008}}'', Morgana uses one as a base of operations, taking a kidnapped Gaius there for a little torture session.
95	* ''Series/TheNewStatesman'' episode "Waste Not, Want Not" has Alan B'stard attempting to use an abandoned coal mine (which turns out to be owned by his father-in-law) to store illegal nuclear waste. This coal mine happens to be beneath a local primary school (not that Alan cares), with his father-in-law already using it to store mustard gas and charges Alan a fortune to keep it there too, when he finds out about it.
96	* ''Series/{{Raven}}'' has two different challenges set in abandoned mines (both were actually filmed in the same real-life location): Spider Tunnel and Dwarf Mine. In the latter challenge, the mine's ceiling will collapse onto the contestants if they fail to get out in time or remove three false pit props.
97	%%* ''Series/SkippyTheBushKangaroo'': "What's that Skippy? The kids are trapped down the old mine shaft, '''again'''?"
98	* ''Series/UnderTheBannersOfHeaven'': Prophet Onias was found to live in a former mine which has been prophetised to fund the LDS Church during the End of Times.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Music]]
102	* Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" mentions the couple going into an old mine with a radio among the settings for the couple's trysts.
103	* The Coasters' "Along Came Jones". Down in the old abandoned mine, Sweet Sue was a-havin' fits -- the villain said "Gimme the deed to your ranch or I'll blow you all to bits!"
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
107	* The ''Encounter Critical'' adventure ''Asteroid 1618'' has an abandoned mine as a playable area. Encounters include Hellbats, a Cave Ooze, a Slime Dragon, Hooded Horrors, and Time Ghosts.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
111	* ''Ride/BigThunderMountainRailroad'' at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks has the guests going through several derelict mines throughout the ride.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Toys]]
115	* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': in the ''Mata Nui Online Game 2'', the Great Mine was abandoned due to flooding by Gahlok in the previous arc. Hahli, a Ga-Matoran and experienced swimmer, has to dive through the mine to retrieve tools and materials for the Onu-Matoran miners.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Video Games]]
119	%%* ''VideoGame/AcornStory'': The protagonist travels through one of these at a later level.
120	* One of the levels of ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfMassmouth'' is set in an abandoned mine on the planet Nero. It is populated with dangerous [[BatOutOfHell Stuka-Bats]] (which are the very reason the mines were abandoned, as "the workers disagreed with the inhabitants.")
121	* ''VideoGame/ArizonaSunshine'' has the Ol' Butchman Mine, which likely hasn't seen any action since at least the ZombieApocalypse started. And now it's crawling with zombies.
122	* {{Downplayed\|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': It's mentioned that the lower levels of Nashkel's iron mine are all but abandoned, due to creatures killing the miners. The main reason you're there is to determine what's going on in said lower levels.
123	* ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor'' features The Mac Mordain Cadal, although the dwarves are trying to change that mine's status.
124	* The Dauna Mine in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' is visited twice during the game, once at the beginning when it was in full use, and a second time after the ten-year TimeSkip, when it is abandoned due to a rampaging dragon. [[spoiler:It's a twist though, said dragon is the PlayerCharacter.]]
125	* In ''VideoGame/BroodStar'', the Caverns level is a set of manmade mines that have been taken over by a HordeOfAlienLocusts.
126	* ''VideoGame/CartoonNetworkRacing'': Mine Your Own Business. It's even referred to as "[[LampshadeHanging The Spooky Mine]]" in the track select.
127	* ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'' has the Dragon Mines track, which serves as Komodo Joe's home track. There exist {{minecart\|Madness}}s that serve as obstacles.
128	%%* The entirety of ''VideoGame/TheDeadMines'' takes place in one of these.
129	* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' has the mine levels. Two levels involve [[MinecartMadness using a mine cart to get from the beginning to the end]].
130	* ''VideoGame/DoomII: Hell on Earth'' has a level called "The Abandoned Mines". Granted, it doesn't look much like actual mines (then again, no level in the classic ''Doom'' games looks like the location it's supposed to be) and it's supposed to be located in Hell, but it does have areas that look like giant underground excavated caverns.
131	* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
132	** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': Mamon Mine. Poisonous puddles, grisly gasses, malevolent monsters... you name it! The mining town goes from decline to virtual ghost town status because of a poison gas seeping from the nearby mines, caused by the fact that the demon king Estark was sealed underground beneath the town centuries ago -- and the miners had been unwittingly unsealing his prison.
133	** Most of the second chapter of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders2'' takes place in an old mine, with the main goal being to revitalize it after the Children of Hargon closed it down years ago.
134	* The game ''VideoGame/{{Dusk}}'' gives us the Cutty Mines, filled with Cultists and {{Jump Scare}}s.
135	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
136	** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', there are a number of them throughout Vvardenfell. Many kwama egg mines had to be abandoned when the resident kwama colony became blighted and turned hostile. There are also some ebony and glass mines that had to be abandoned for various reasons. One in particular, the Vassir-Didanat ebony mine, was not only abandoned but its location was lost. You can find it and report its location to one of three Hlaalu councilors, each of whom will give you a different reward. There are also a number of still-operational mines, averting the trope in those cases.
137	** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', for the civilized heart of TheEmpire, Cyrodiil sure has a lot of abandoned mines lying around for no good reason and, for the most part, they're infested with bandits or creatures. They sometimes show no evidence, beyond wooden supports or the odd pickaxe, of actually being a mine. Bonus points for one literally called the Abandoned Mine.
138	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
139	*** Does have a few, but like ''Morrowind'', it makes it more reasonable by also having working and populated mines. The most straightforward is probably Redbelly Mine, which has been overrun by [[GiantSpider Frostbite Spiders]]. The lead miner, Filnjar, asks you to clear out the spiders so the mine won't have to be abandoned.
140	*** The main ebony mine in Raven Rock on Solstheim in the ''Dragonborn'' DLC was on the verge of becoming one, and its lower levels were already abandoned and sealed off, supposedly due to a lack of ore [[spoiler:(really because they DugTooDeep, found a tomb full of [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Draugr]] and a Dragon Priest, and covered it up]]. Once you [[spoiler:clear the mine of Draugr, defeat the Dragon Priest, and [[TheCloudCuckoolanderWasRight recover evidence of the cover-up]]]], it turns out there was more ebony in the deeper parts of the mine, making it viable once more. This has the effect of reversing the economic downturn the island had been suffering from for the past few decades.
141	* ''VideoGame/{{Elsword}}'' has Richie Mine, a dungeon where the Nasods have started setting up base and excavating materials to build more of their kind.
142	* ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'' has the Broken Hill Mine map, a borhium mine that was the recent target of a monster attack. Now all that can be found of the miners are corpses and bloodstains, while the monster itself still lurks in the tunnels.
143	* ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'':
144	** ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' has the Wanamingo Mine in Redding, which was abandoned after a pack of monsters moved in. The player can buy the mine and clear it out to resell it at a profit.
145	** ''VideoGame/Fallout3'''s DLC Pack Point Lookout has the Herzog Mine. The mine was partially collapsed to end a strike. Many of the striking workers died. The owner, overcome with remorse, hung himself in the lowest chamber.
146	** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has its fair share of long-abandoned mines, now inhabited by monsters or raiders.
147	** The Commonwealth of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' has several mines whose exploitation stopped because of the War or subsequent conflicts. The Thicket Excavations has become a Raider base while the Dunwich Borers seem to be inhabited by an abomination created by the former owners' dark rituals.
148	* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXII'':
149	** You cross three different mines at your adventures: Barheim Passage, Lhusu Mines, and Henne Mines. The first is abandoned and it becomes inaccessible after the escape from Nalbina until you get the key from a sidequest to its main entrance. The two others are only temporarily abandoned due to monsters overrunning them at the time you trek there, though they too have sections that were left permanently abandoned, such as Phase 2 of Henne Mines.
150	** In a broader sense, there are also the rigs mining sand at Ogir-Yensa Sandsea. They were abandoned due to being in Yensa territory.
151	* The Perseus Mandate expansion pack from the original ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' features one of these in interval 6.
152	* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'': The Völunder Mines. The miners left a long time ago, and the tunnels are now inhabited by draugr. There is also a mean-looking Soul Eater that Kratos can kill to fulfill a favor for Brok.
153	* There is some sort of incarnation of the Abandoned Mine in every ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' game to date:
154	** In the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', some of the older and more dilapidated parts of [[ElaborateUndergroundBase the Black Mesa complex]] have this aesthetic even if they're not literal examples, being built on top of a decommissioned missile silo that dates back to TheFifties. Some areas you pass through look like they're either natural caves or literal mineshafts that have been repurposed.
155	** The short route from Ravenholm back to the surface in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' also counts.
156	** In ''Half-Life 2: Episode Two'', both the rebel outpost where you meet Griggs and Sheckley and the antlion nest are in the abandoned Victory Mine.
157	* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has the Crystal Peak, which doubles as CrystalLandscape. [[DownplayedTrope While people are still mining in it]], the miners are actually zombies, and the presence of many animal creatures still makes this trope relevant.
158	* In ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'', the Mars Colony was built over an abandoned mining settlement, whose tunnels serve as TheMaze for the player.
159	* ''VideoGame/LastScenario'':
160	** The Abandoned Copper Mine is the first dungeon that Hilbert visits at the beginning of the game.
161	** The Possessed Mine Shaft near Kholen was abandoned after several miners wind up dead in mysterious circumstances. The party ends up running into the responsible party of the massacre while exploring the mine.
162	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
163	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' features the locale known as the Lanayru Mining Facility, which had been abandoned for several hundred years. The minerals that had been extracted there, Timeshift Stones, remain scattered throughout the mines and desert. When struck, these stones cause a temporal effect that sends a part of the area back in time to when it was not so abandoned.
164	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'': Throughout [[BeneathTheEarth the Depths]], there are abandoned [[{{Unobtanium}} Zonaite]] mines that serve as the best source for that material. The [[{{Precursors}} Zonai]] naturally made much of their {{Magitek}} from what they mined there, but since their disappearance the mines have been taken over by monsters.
165	* In ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeTrueColors'', the old Haven Springs mining tunnels play a significant role in the story. At the end of Chapter 1, it's where Alex, Gabe, and Ryan search for Ethan, and at the beginning of Chapter 5, [[spoiler:Alex falls down into the collapsed mine where several workers died due to Jed's actions.]]
166	* ''VideoGame/TheLongDark'' features a few mines that were abandoned due to seismic activity, many years before the game's events. In Campaign mode, the player has to contend with falling rocks, [[DeadlyGas poison gas]] and, when the Aurora hits, [[HighVoltageDeath a huge amount of electrified wires and equipment]].
167	* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'' has the not-so-abandoned dungeon beneath the [[PalmtreePanic Twinsy Tropics]], where a mining operation led by Wendy and Roy using enslaved Toads is taking place.
168	* Many, many side-missions in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' will take place in these -- from recovering missing Alliance intelligence to killing husks of a mining team that DugTooDeep. ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has just one mission in an abandoned mine that is also fighting the remnants of miners who DugTooDeep. ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' keeps it going, with Drack's LoyaltyMission being set in one used by criminals as a hideout.
169	* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' has the underground Strongholds and the Abandoned Mine Shafts, which frequently go off in labyrinthine directions with broken mine tracks, exposed ores, and resources, chests, webs, and the nests of [[BigCreepyCrawlies huge venomous spiders]].
170	** The spiders in mineshafts are quite unique as they're smaller than normal spiders but are more agile and on normal, hard and [[{{Permadeath}} hardcore]] mode, they inflict poison.
171	** Silverfish on the other hand, continuously spawn reinforcements when you attack them directly. They also [[ChestMonster hide themselves inside blocks]] and can eat through blocks.
172	** The player also creates mines that may subsequently be abandoned.
173	* ''VideoGame/MonsterEye'' have an abandoned mine shaft near the waterfall stage, full of giant insects and a pair of JapaneseBeetleBrothers as a DualBoss. The player has to take cover inside after being attacked by a giant rhino beetle, only to run afoul of a giant stag beetle inside the shaft which the players must escape from. Once they're outside, they fight the rhino and stag beetle at the same time.
174	* There is at least one in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights''.
175	* ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'': The abandoned mines out behind Possum Springs are a big part of the town's history. They're also the place where [[spoiler:the cult of the Black Goat makes their sacrifices.]]
176	''VideoGame/Nocturne1999'' The second mission has The Stranger travelling to a town out west and battling Zombies. After an investigation, he discovers that these zombies are coming from an abandoned mine.
177	* ''VideoGame/NostalgiaRedEntertainment'': The Eterna Mines.
178	* Splitstone Quarry from ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' is an abandoned gold mine that was once inhabited by goblin slaves. The goblin champion, Ruckus, hails from here, where he repurposed his mining MiniMecha into a war machine to rebel against his masters.
179	** The map, Foreman's Rise, is in the same area, with Splitstone Quarry being visible below it.
180	* ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'', a series of horror games, all take place in an abandoned mining facility.
181	* ''VideoGame/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnline'' has El Patron's Mine on Raven's Cove -- complete with [[GhostPirate Ghost Pirates]].
182	* Miror B's hideout in ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' is in one. And it's a maze and confusing to navigate. ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' also has one, with the added creepy factor of the mine being extremely profitable but abandoned because the miners [[DugTooDeep discovered]] [[EldritchAbomination something horrific living deep underground.]]
183	* On Wild West Island in ''VideoGame/{{Poptropica}}'', you go into an abandoned mine. There's a minecart segment where you have to shoot bats and targets. At the end, you'll find a blue tulip, then the mine caves in. Thankfully, there's a rope that you can climb to get out.
184	* The ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' games take place at Aperture Science, a laboratory built into an abandoned salt mine. Of course, since said mines are now booming research facilities (though those were abandoned too), it's hard to say if this trope applies.
185	* One of the episodes in ''VideoGame/{{Prismata}}'' takes place in an abandoned Gaussite mine.
186	* ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'', naturally, has several, but the first one most players see (north-northwest of Prontera) contains a few dwarves who DugTooDeep.
187	* ''VideoGame/RavenswordShadowlands'' has one as a result of being infested with kobolds. A hapless miner got himself trapped at the very bottom and you need to rescue him.
188	* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' have Gaptooth Breach in New Austin, in both games they're overrun with outlaw gangs.
189	* All over the place in ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''. If the mine wasn't abandoned because someone DugTooDeep (either intentionally or accidentally), or because someone thought a mine would be a brilliant place to build a secret monster-creating laboratory, it was abandoned because it happened to be in the vicinity of a zombie outbreak.
190	** The Antarctic Base in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilCodeVeronica'' was a regular mine re-purposed into a lab for Umbrella. By the time Claire reaches it everyone is already dead and zombified.
191	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' the Plagas parasites were discovered in a mine outside the unnamed village and infected the townsfolk. The mine might still be in operation by the time Leon gets there.
192	** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', Chris Redfield runs through a large mine in chapter 2.
193	** The backstory of Sejm Island in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations2'' is that the community on the island was based on the island's large coal mine, and when it shut down the island fell into poverty, making it easy prey for Alex Wesker, who turned the island into her own personal torture lab.
194	** In the last section of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7'', Ethan runs through an abandoned salt mine overrun with Molded.
195	* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'': The quest "Haunted Mine" prominently takes place in a half-flooded, abandoned mine next to [[BubblegloopSwamp Mort Myre Swamp]]. The quest mostly consists of the player solving an elaborate multi-level minecart puzzle.
196	* ''VideoGame/ScoobyDooFirstFrights'': Found beneath Keystone Castle in Episode 4.
197	* ''VideoGame/ScurgeHive'': Area 5, the Mines. No longer actively used, these minds are now overrun with native monsters.
198	* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' features a rather prominent example of this in the form of the Blue Ridge Mine on [[LovecraftCountry Solomon Island]]. First opened in 1879 and re-opened in 1971, on both occasions the work there was heavily protested by the local Wabanaki, and both periods concluded with the mine being shut down following the deaths of several workers. The [[MegaCorp Orochi Group]] have been trying to reopen the place, but without much success; the Wabanaki, having been awarded ownership of the place as a token gesture, don't want the repetitive DugTooDeep scenario to get any worse. And guess where ''you'' have to go while pursuing the villain late in the Solomon Island arc? [[spoiler:It turns out the mine was actually tunneling in close proximity to one of the legendary [[CosmicKeystone Gaia Engines]], hence why the Orochi Group was so interested in the place; the accidents and madness among the miners were due to the proximity of the [[EldritchAbomination Dreamer]] held in check by the Engine.]]
199	* The Rhondda Mine from ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'' was abandoned after a huge explosion in the deepest parts of the mine caused the deaths of more than one hundred miners. Now, the only ones there are ghosts and other nasties that have made the place their turf.
200	* The 3rd level in ''VideoGame/SlenderTheArrival'' has Lauren escape an abandoned mine where she needs to activate 6 generators to turn on an elevator, trouble is [[spoiler:Slender Man isn't the only one who's stalking her.]]
201	* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' has Knuckles' search for shards of the previously shattered Master Emerald bringing him to [[DownTheDrain Aquatic Mine]], an abandoned coal mine located within the vicinity of Pumpkin Hill that can be accessed via the sewers of Central City. This is aptly summed up by the opening lyrics of the stage's theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LIsQuFX9Xk "Dive into the Mellow":]] "Let's take a dive, in Aquatic Mine. Once was a coal pit, but now it's a water ride."
202	** Atypical for this trope, the mine is presumably abandoned because it is flooded, as the name and layout implies.
203	* The initial levels of ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'' are set in one of these. Of course, "abandoned" doesn't include the cavemen, shopkeepers, kidnapped damsels.
204	* One of the possible [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels randomly generated]] structures in ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}''. They're filled with monsters that are not native to the planet.
205	* ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' has the Mines on the mountains and Skull Cavern in the Calico Desert, both act as dungeons with monsters to kill and valuable loot.
206	* An optional area hidden in Mt. Metox in ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'' is an abandoned mine filled with super-tough enemies and high-value loot.
207	* ''VideoGame/SuperCatboy'' has a stage set inside one such mine, which contains literal moles as MoleMonster enemies and leads to an intense MinecartMadness chase.
208	* In ''VideoGame/SlenderTheArrival'', the majority of the third level, Into The Abyss, takes place in the abandoned Kullman Mines. The main enemy being the Chaser who usually attacks the player and leaves sometimes leaves them weakened enough to be killed by the Slender Man. The level itself involves the player trying to activate 6 generators in the mine while trying to avoid the Chaser and Slender Man in order to escape. The Hardcore version of the game increases the difficulty by having the goal to collect gas cannisters to fuel said generators.
209	* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' had the Toize Valley Mine in Tethe'alla.
210	* The third level in ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' was an abandoned (and haunted) mine, which had a passage to Cragscleft prison, your ultimate objective.
211	* A few of ''VideoGame/{{Wreckfest}}'''s tracks, such as Boulder Bank Circuit, Sandstone Raceway, and Savolax Sandpit, take place on the access roads of an old mine.
212	* The Ether Mine of Colony 6 in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1''.
213	* In ''VideoGame/ZombieInfection'', the first area you play as Alex have her accidentally falling down a shaft and into a long-abandoned mine, filled with zombified miners. And she needs to find an exit while shooting zombies left and right.
214	[[/folder]]
215
216	[[folder:Web Animation]]
217	* {{Subverted}} in ''WebAnimation/{{Lackadaisy}}.'' With TheScrounger Rocky's willingness to run down even the signage at Sable Stone and Quarry, to say nothing of the shed that becomes an impromptu garage for his car, it seems at first like he knows a perfect abandoned staging area for a defensive battle with his pursuers, HiredGuns from the Marigold Gang. His exploration of the outbuildings and subsequent ConstructionVehicleRampage involve suspiciously new equipment. Rocky's following passive-aggressive chat with speakeasy patron Wick Sable heavy implies, and a [[TheStinger double still]] during the credits [[BrickJoke confirms]] that Rocky's affinity for property damage and antipathy for Wick in particular grant an ability to totally destroy a presently operating quarry with no regrets in the slightest.
218	[[/folder]]
219
220	[[folder:Web Comics]]
221	* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' the local clan of [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfeet]] live in an abandoned coal mine. It was abandoned because it was full of Bigfeet.
222	* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'':
223	** The derelict mines beneath Ethelmik are how Sette sneaks into Cresce, and the smugglers who have started using the tunnels end up fighting the protagonists in them.
224	** The Uneasy Mines have long been functionally abandoned due to the Foi-Hellicks being executed and the locals of Avelpit being embroiled in a decade long civil war against greater Alderode. The mines end up the eerie backdrop for a large part of Duane's story about fighting in the Foi-Hellick Affair since his regiment fell into them during an ambush and were there captured by Avelpit rebels.
225	[[/folder]]
226
227	[[folder:Web Videos]]
228	* ''WebVideo/BedtimeStoriesYoutubeChannel'': One such mine is the MacGuffinLocation of the episode "There Is Something in the Mountains". It is specifically a gold mine known as "The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine" located in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona.
229	[[/folder]]
230
231	[[folder:Western Animation]]
232	%%* The ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' episode "The Lost Mother Lode" features one as a setting.
233	* In one story on ''WesternAnimation/TheArchieShow'', the gang encountered a partly obscured road sign which Archie read as "Lost Mine". Upon arriving at the mine, they decided to explore while riding a mine cart, and ran into ghosts and other scary things. [[spoiler:It turned out to be an amusement park attraction, not yet open to the public.]]
234	* The ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'' episode "Water Babies" begins with the babies pretending they are exploring such a mine, searching for a treasure.
235	* The ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou!'' episode "Mine Your Own Business". While trying to determine the identity of the scary Miner 49er, the gang explores a spooky old mine.
236	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'': Much of "Into the Mouth of Darkness" takes place in an abandoned silver mine.
237	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Trash of the Titans", Homer Simpson's solution for solving the Springfield Sanitation Department's budget crisis is to allow other major U.S. cities to dump their unwanted garbage in one (located on the outskirts of Springfield) in exchange for money. [[spoiler:The plan backfires when the garbage starts erupting from the ground all over the town.]]
238	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': In [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS2E12TheMandalorePlot "The Mandalore Plot"]], the Death Watch's base is located in a former mine on the moon Concordia, which has many such facilities. Obi-Wan suspects something like this is going on the instant he hears of the abandoned facilities, slipping away to investigate as soon as he and Duchess Satine arrive.
239	* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends:''
240	** In"Duncan and the Old Mine", Duncan wanders into an abandoned mine and gets sealed in by an avalanche. For a while, he ends up lost, until he finds a bunch of coal trucks, which he uses as a BatteringRam to get out the other end.
241	** In special "The Great Discovery", Thomas gets lost in Morgan's Mine chasing down a Troublesome Truck. The whole Island of Sodor sends a search party to look for him. Eventually, Thomas finds his way out and Stanley helps pull him back onto the rails.
242	** In special "King of the Railway", Stephen smashes into a boarded-up mine after getting chased by a runaway train of Troublesome Trucks. While there, he finds the lost crown of King Godred, which Sir Robert Norramby has been searching for for years. Like the aforementioned "The Great Discovery" example, the Island of Sodor sends a search party, this time to look for Stephen. Thomas eventually finds him, and with the help of Jack the Front Loader, pulls him out of the mine.
243	** In "Missing Gator", the Troublesome Trucks run away from Percy because they aren't coupled up with him. They smash through [[CallBack the same boarded-up mine that Stephen was previously in]], and in an OutOfCharacter moment, they ask Percy to help them out of the mine, as [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness they don't like being left there alone]].
244	* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderbirdsAreGo'': In "Crosscut", Thunderbird 5 picks up an unusual radiation spike from a remote corner of Africa, and John discovers a former uranium mine has reopened, leading to Scott rushing there in Thunderbird 1 to investigate, with Virgil following. When Scott arrives and enters the mine, he discovers a source of unstable uranium and is attacked by a mysterious woman, who claims that the mine belongs to her family. During their confrontation, the mine soon begins to crumble, and she and Scott must work together to escape and reseal the mine before a storm spreads the leaking radiation to the nearest city with serious consequences.
245	* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': Camp Wawanakwa turns out to have one in the fourth season, where it becomes part of a challenge. Unfortunately, Chris has also been allowing large corporations to dump toxic waste in those mines, so the contestants only have half an hour to do the challenge before they suffer from radiation poisoning. To make matters worse is the mutant fauna that have taken up residence in there.
246	* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', the Decepticons set up a hidden base in one. One also features prominently in the episode "Nature Calls".
247	* ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'': In "Rhode Island Road Race", the Arkansas Chugabug's driver entered a subway and mistook the tunnel for an abandoned mine.
248	* ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'' once found one and decided to see if there was any gold left. An outlaw named Joe claimed the mine as his by writing his name on the Abandoned Mine sign. Woody got the gold but [[spoiler:it was fool's gold and the assays officer threatened to shoot the next one to bring it. At least Woody had a good laugh by luring Joe into being the next one.]]
249	[[/folder]]
250
251	[[folder:Real Life]]
252	* Abandoned mines are all over the place in real life, often in remote or unexpected areas, but rarely completely abandoned because that's sorta frowned upon by environmental agencies these days. Despite this, people in charge of remediating the damage done by the mining process will usually not be there on any particular given day. Needless to say, they are dangerous places. Not that this stops anyone from exploring them just to show how brave they are, of course.
253	** There are a couple of reasonably safe abandoned mines in the hills above Farmington, Utah, that are popular hiking destinations. Patsy's mine, the most popular, even has the beginnings of flowstone and stalactites!
254	* Anyone doing any hiking in the North of England is well-advised to pay attention to the map when it says "sunken mine works", some areas are lousy with them. The mines failed decades ago, but they are still dangerous to the unwise or unlucky.
255	* There are abandoned mines dotted around Wales. Some are fenced off and come with signs warning that the fence blocks the way to an old mine.
256	* Some mines are only temporarily "abandoned" and subsequently get repurposed for other uses.
257	** Beneath the Canadian city of Sudbury, ON is a disused nickel mine which is now the site of SNOLAB (Sudbury Neutrino Observatory [=LABoratory=])
258	** Underneath downtown Grand Rapids, MI are three gypsum mines which even when no longer mined for gypsum were kept well-maintained for use as, among other things, fallout shelters (during the Cold War) archival storage (constant temperature year-round) or even sites for secure server farms.
259	*** Which just goes to show: [[{{Pun}} a mine is a terrible thing to waste.]]
260	** The Springhill Coal Mines, shut down in 1958 following [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springhill_mining_disaster a (third) disaster]], was flooded in 2015 and turned into geothermal heating for Springhill's industrial park.
261	* The tiny island of Hashima (nicknamed Gunkanjima or "Battleship Island" due to its resemblance to the Japanese battleship ''Tosa'' from the distance) is basically a minehead of the enormous undersea coal works that belonged to Mitsubishi. While the CompanyTown that occupies the whole top of the island is a very popular attraction among the urban explorers, the mine itself probably hasn't been visited since it closed in 1974 due to falling coal prices.
262	* In Limburg, the southeastern province of the Netherlands, there are mines where a type of stone called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marl "mergel"]] was quarried. Mergel is no longer used and the mines are now abandoned, although some have been re-purposed for growing white mushrooms and others have become tourist attractions. Some run long and deep enough to easily get lost in, and local legend has it that {{Satan}} has been seen on the lowest levels...
263	* The mines at Wittenoom, Western Australia were closed and abandoned in 1966, and the surrounding town was declared off-limits. The town itself was degazetted and removed from maps in 2007. Huge warning signs surround the area. The reason? They mined blue asbestos (which is even more dangerous than normal asbestos).
264	* Most of the (in)famous Paris Catacombs were originally mineshafts, as the area was rich in both limestone and gypsum; "Plaster of Paris" derives its name from the latter. They fell into disuse in the 18th century as the deposits were largely depleted, but in 1774 the city began using them to inter skeletal remains exhumed from the city's overflowing cemeteries.
265	[[/folder]]

Context Main / AbandonedMine