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    Underground mining is done when the rocks, minerals, or gemstones are too far underground to get out with surface mining.  Some kinds of underground mining are:

	Borehole Mining
	Drift Mining
	Hard Rock Mining
	Shaft Mining
	Slope Mining

    In order for the minerals to be taken out of the mine, the miners make underground rooms to work in. The mining company chooses the best way to get the minerals out.  Most mining is done using Continuous mining that uses a continuous mining machine to cut coal from the walls.  This means there is less blasting and drilling and puts less miners down in the mines.  It is safer than the old kind of mining that we described on our coal mine tour page.  Two of the ways that they mine underground are:

	Room and pillar mining:   This is used in the coal mine we visited.  There are intersecting 'rooms' with pillars of coal that hold up the roof.  These pillars are mined when the mine, or a part of it, are closing.  They are careful when they do this because the roof caves in as they leave.
	Longwall mining:   Usually a machine called a continuous miner slices layers of coal or minerals from the walls.

Rocks, minerals, and gemstones that are mined this way:

	Alexandrite		Magnetite
	Amethyst		Muscovite
	Biotite		Nickel
	Calcite		Olivine/Peridot
	Chalcopyrite		Platinum
	Copper		Pyrite
	Diamond		Ruby
	Emerald		Silver
	Galena/Lead		Sphalerite
	Gold		Sulfur
	Graphite		Turquoise
	Gypsum		Uraninite
	Halite/Salt		Zinc
	Hematite