Old gold mine buildings, Rodalquilar, Cabo de Gata natural park, Almeria, Spain, Europe

The old mining ghost town of Pulacayo, Industrial Heritage Site, famously linked to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Bolivia, South America

The old mining ghost town of Pulacayo, Industrial Heritage Site, famously linked to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Bolivia, South America

The historic graveyard at this former mining settlement & second highest village in Scotland. Leadhills, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

The historic graveyard at this former mining settlement and second highest village in Scotland, Leadhills, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Humberstone Saltpeter Works, UNESCO World Heritage Site, northern Atacama, Chile, South America

Sewell Mining Town, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Chile, South America

Landscape scarred by mining and spoil heaps at former mining settlement where gold and other minerals were extracted, and second highest village in Scotland, Leadhills, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Sewell Mining Town, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Chile, South America

Mongolia. In late early sarangol a flourishing town lived in by some 5,000 soviet-mongol miners. mine been shut down leaving behind ninjas named green pans they wear on their back that make them resemble cartoon ninja turtles. ninjas, income earned from specks of gold clawed from river is a social safety in vast central asian country where more than on in three live below poverty line

Ruins, namibia. Elizabeth bay. Remains of diamond mining settlement

Ruins, namibia. Elizabeth bay. Remains of diamond mining settlement

Mining shaft, Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia

Visitor searching for opals, opal mining fields, Aboriginal Land, Stuart Highway near Marla Opalsiedlung, South Australia

Underground mine of the family Bevan in Lightning Ridge, near the Queensland border, opal settlement, New South Wales, Australia

Two older men searching for opals, opal mining fields, Aboriginal Land, Stuart Highway near Marla Opalsiedlung, South Australia

advertising sign, car wreck Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia

Aerial photograph, Schuengelberg-Siedlung, mining settlement, Gelsenkirchen Buer, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe

Malakowturm tower of the disused Zeche Prosper coal mine, today a museum, cultural center, located on the grounds of the former Zeche Prosper coke plant, mining settlement on Steigerstrasse street in Bottrop, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe

Aerial view, former mining settlement, Meistersiedlung Datteln settlement, snow, Ruhr area, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe

Abandoned settlement at a silver mine, Norway, Scandinavia, Europe

Church San Antonio de Padua. Mining town San Antonio de los Cobres, main town in the departamento Los Andes in Salta province. South America, Argentina

Norway, Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Plaque commemorating John Munro Longyear, American founder of Longyearbyen.