Slope mining is a method of accessing valuable geological material, such as coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

. A sloping access shaft travels downwards towards the coal seam. Slope mines differ from shaft

Shaft mining

Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....

 and drift mines

Drift mining

Drift mining is either the mining of a placer deposit by underground methods, or the working of coal seams accessed by adits driven into the surface outcrop of the coal bed. Drift is a more general mining term, meaning a near-horizontal passageway in a mine, following the bed or vein of ore. A...

, which access resources by tunneling straight down or horizontally, respectively.
In slope mining, an angled opening and air shaft are made in the side of a mountain to remove coal.