The phrase "ancient mine" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to a mine that has been in operation for a long time, often associated with historical significance or archaeological interest.
Example: "The archaeologists discovered an ancient mine that dates back to the Roman Empire, revealing valuable insights into the mining techniques of that era."
Alternatives: "historic mine" or "old mine".
The city and workshops of Grand Hornu constitute a remarkable reconstruction (begun c. 1820) of an ancient mine and its attendant industrial complex.
As Dave Green, the property manager, explains, there's more to the story than the ring – an iron-age site with ancient mine workings known as "the Dwarf's Hill", a curse on the thief who stole the ring, and a strong link to Tolkien himself.
One interesting set of Semitic inscriptions was discovered in 1905 at an ancient mining site on the Sinai Peninsula.
Foodies with more literary pretensions might consider the Library Hotel; doubles from $170) in the ancient mining village of Kalavasos.
Several copper mines and a smelter were opened in the early 1980s at an ancient mining site near Ṣuḥār, but production levels have diminished considerably.
The old general store in Cerro Gordo (which means Fat Hill in Spanish) has been turned into a ramshackle museum, where ancient mining tools, rusty pistols, a sun-bleached wooden tombstone and other artifacts from the pioneers are displayed.
"Arsenic, cadmium, nickel, lead," said Catalin Hosu, a public relations official for Gabriel Resources, ticking off just a few of the heavy metals that leach from ancient mines to give this valley its name; Rosia Montana means red mountain.
But he needed immense patience to deal with Cairo's bureaucracy.Still, the company he founded, Centamin, which is half-owned by the Egyptian government, has now started production at its Sukari concession, a 160-square-kilometre patch of barren, mountainous terrain near the Red Sea that is dotted with ancient mines.
Yet as everywhere else in the country, jobs are in short supply and much of the money that flows in here comes from those who sought work abroad.Even so, in Rosia Montana a Canadian company has created jobs by reviving an ancient mining industry.
Obviously, this may be applied in studies of anthropology and ancient mining.
Their recent revenue and profit growth is more like that of Internet hotshots than of ancient mining companies.
