Excavations, either caved or sealed, that are deserted and in which further mining is not intended.

While definitions vary, abandoned mines are most consistently defined as those mine sites where the miner operator or exploration company has ceased or suspended indefinately their activities, be that exploration, mining or mine production, without rehabilitating the site. Some parties make a distinction between abandoned mines, those being all mine sites in the condition just described, and orphaned mines, those being abandoned mines for which an owner cannot be identified.