‘I explore abandoned mines for fun – people don’t realise what is hidden underneath us’

Peter posts pictures and videos of his adventures on YouTube and TikTok under the name Mine Explorer UK

Some of the tunnel systems Peter explores are 30 miles long (Collect/PA Real Life) ( )

A mine explorer who helped locate the body of a missing man last year and has visited more than 100 abandoned sites across the UK has revealed what he finds hidden under us.

Peter Pink, 38, from Middlesbrough, has spent the past seven years exploring mines in England and Wales which have been closed for decades but warned the stakes are high.

Peter, who lives in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, always carries a gas monitor to check how much oxygen is in the air and gives his wife Emma, 32, a “call out time” so that if he does not resurface, she will alert the emergency services.

On March 24 2023, Peter and his friend Bob Johnson helped discover the body of 24-year-old Adam Perkins in Ayton Monument Mine after he was reported missing earlier that week.

The missing mine explorer was found by emergency services after Peter discovered his rucksack in an area of the mine with critically low oxygen levels.

Because of the risks, which also include rotten false floors and crumbling passageways, Peter does not wish to reveal the exact locations of the mines he frequents.

Peter has found a number of historical objects over the years, including a blacksmith’s workshop with a forge, anvil and hammer, as well as old sticks of dynamite and graffiti dating back to the 1800s.

Peter helped locate the body of a missing man last year (Collect/PA Real Life) ( )

He posts pictures and videos of his adventures on YouTube and TikTok under the name Mine Explorer UK, some of which have clocked more than five million views.

“I found loads of old dynamite,” he said.

“They go like a squashed banana and the only thing keeping them together is the label.”

It is extremely dangerous for anyone without training to enter an abandoned mine.

Peter’s passion for exploring abandoned mines started in 2017 after he stumbled upon a small hole in Loftus, North Yorkshire, and posted a picture online which received “loads of attention”.

“It went from that small hole to abandoned train tunnels and then I discovered the mines and I’ve never gone anywhere else,” he said.

He now drives hundreds of miles around the country in his spare time to explore old mines and has amassed more than 37,000 followers on TikTok.

Among them is an ironstone mine in North Yorkshire where Peter discovered the blacksmith’s workshop with the equipment having been left untouched since the 1950s.

“Surprisingly the forge still smells like oil,” said Peter.

“There’s also a blacksmith’s hammer resting on the forge which has been left there since it closed in the 1950s.”

Peter has found graffiti dating back to the 1800s (Collect/PA Real Life) ( )

He has also visited a number of lead mines in Cumbria and has found old dynamite sticks, some of which were branded Nobels, after the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel who invented the explosive in the 1860s and used his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize institution.

“I’ve been that far down that I found a stick which said Nobels on it,” he said.

“But I didn’t obviously pick that up…”

Shovels, pickaxes and graffiti dating back to the 1800s are just some of the other amazing finds Peter has made during his underground adventures.

But exploring these abandoned tunnel systems, some of which are 30 miles long, can prove fatal as oxygen levels in the air can change suddenly.

Oxygen usually makes up around 21% of the air we breath in at ground level but in the mines that level can dip as low as 12%, when you start to lose consciousness.

“You can die within minutes,” he said.

“When you are underground it can just start dropping.

“You can’t breathe or walk, not properly anyway – it feels like someone is sitting on your chest.

“You’re staggering all over, you can’t think properly and start slurring your words and then if you stay there long enough, you’ll pass out.”

Peter always carries a four gas monitor to keep an eye on the oxygen levels which can change suddenly (Collect/PA Real Life) ( )

Peter always carries a four gas monitor to keep an eye on the oxygen levels and refuses to explore coal mines where other harmful gases known as damps can be found.

“It usually happens where there are rotten timbers,” he said.

“Makes me laugh because outside, where we are now, you need trees to breath, but in a mine they are trying to kill you.”

In March last year, Peter helped emergency services to discover the body of fellow mine explorer Adam.

The 24-year-old had last been seen at 8pm on Monday March 20 2023 when Peter found his rucksack in a section of Ayton Monument Mine where he said oxygen levels were below 15% – known to the mining community as the “wheel of death”.

“A friend had sent me a post about this missing boy from Sheffield who was a mine explorer,” he said.

“I knew the mine really well so when I got home from work, I put my gear on and went out with a friend.

“I went down one of the main drifts and the oxygen was getting too low – the last time I checked it was 12%.

“I saw this bag on the floor with footprints leading off into the distance, where you don’t go.

“I looked inside and there was a box of stuff that had his name on it.

“So I ran out and phoned the emergency services.”

Adam’s body was discovered further down the mine from the rucksack Peter had found on Friday March 24 2023.

Peter said false floors, used to cover up vertical shafts, can also prove to be deadly if the timbers have rotted.

“Over time the platform gets covered in stones, so you would think it’s part of the stone floor without knowing that below you there’s probably 100ft [30m] drop of nothing,” he said.

“I stepped on one once but luckily I didn’t go all the way through because it was flooded below.”

In case of emergency, Peter always shares his location with his wife, Emma, and agrees a “call out time”.

Peter does not wish to reveal the exact location of the mines because of the risks (Collect/PA Real Life) ( )

“I’ll tell her if you don’t hear from me by six o’clock or something, then phone the emergency services,” said Peter.

“And I give her a map of where I’m going so she knows exactly where I am at all times.”

Peter, who is a keen photographer, has a strict policy of leaving the mines untouched and only ever takes away rubbish.

“You just leave footprints and don’t take anything,” said Peter.

“I’ve cleaned up a couple where there were beer cans and stuff like that.

“I don’t understand why people would drink in a mine.”

For the past three years, he has been exploring an extensive drift mine, which means it goes into the hill rather than down a shaft.

“Basically it’s like being inside a beehive,” he said.

Despite the risks, he is keen to travel across the UK, exploring abandoned mines along the way and has launched a TikTok and YouTube channel for people to follow his journey.