The process of mining is described in Job 28:1-11. Moses speaks of the mineral wealth of Palestine (Deuteronomy 8:9). Job 28:4 is rightly thus rendered in the Revised Version, "He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; they are forgotten of the foot [that passeth by]; they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro." These words illustrate ancient mining operations.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) See Mien.

2. (pron. & a.) Belonging to me; my. Used as a pronominal to me; my. Used as a pronominal adjective in the predicate; as, Vengeance is mine; I will repay. Rom. xii. 19. Also, in the old style, used attributively, instead of my, before a noun beginning with a vowel.

3. (v. i.) To dig a mine or pit in the earth; to get ore, metals, coal, or precious stones, out of the earth; to dig in the earth for minerals; to dig a passage or cavity under anything in order to overthrow it by explosives or otherwise.

4. (v. i.) To form subterraneous tunnel or hole; to form a burrow or lodge in the earth; as, the mining cony.

5. (v. t.) To dig away, or otherwise remove, the substratum or foundation of; to lay a mine under; to sap; to undermine; hence, to ruin or destroy by slow degrees or secret means.

6. (v. t.) To dig into, for ore or metal.

7. (v. t.) To get, as metals, out of the earth by digging.

8. (n.) A subterranean cavity or passage

9. (n.) A pit or excavation in the earth, from which metallic ores, precious stones, coal, or other mineral substances are taken by digging; -- distinguished from the pits from which stones for architectural purposes are taken, and which are called quarries.

10. (n.) A cavity or tunnel made under a fortification or other work, for the purpose of blowing up the superstructure with some explosive agent.

11. (v. i.) Any place where ore, metals, or precious stones are got by digging or washing the soil; as, a placer mine.

12. (v. i.) Fig.: A rich source of wealth or other good.