A method of developing an underground mine, comprising: forming a mine shaft by excavating earth from beneath a galloway to form a hole extending downwardly from an earth surface region; removing excavated material from the hole during the formation of the mine shaft by a material handling unit operable to transport the excavated material upwardly through the hole to the earth surface region for discharge at the surface region; wherein the material handling unit comprises one or more skips moveable up and down on skip guides within the hole, and wherein the material handling unit comprises a transfer station at which material excavated in the formation of the shaft is transferred into the skip or skips for transport to the surface region and the transfer station is moved downwardly as excavation progresses, characterised by the steps of: forming said mine shaft by excavating earth from beneath a galloway and said material transfer station is mounted on the galloway, locating the galloway and the material transfer station at a bottom part of the mine shaft; launching one or more tunnels from the bottom part of the mine shaft, and removing material excavated in the tunnel excavation by transporting that material from the tunnel to the material handling unit and operating that system to transport the material to the surface region, wherein on completion of the shaft formation, the material transfer station is at or near the bottom of the mine shaft and the tunnel excavation material is fed to the material transfer station into the skip or skips. forming a mine shaft by excavating earth from beneath a galloway to form a hole extending downwardly from an earth surface region; removing excavated material from the hole during the formation of the mine shaft by a material handling unit operable to transport the excavated material upwardly through the hole to the earth surface region for discharge at the surface region; wherein the material handling unit comprises one or more skips moveable up and down on skip guides within the hole, and wherein the material handling unit comprises a transfer station at which material excavated in the formation of the shaft is transferred into the skip or skips for transport to the surface region and the transfer station is moved downwardly as excavation progresses, characterised by the steps of: forming said mine shaft by excavating earth from beneath a galloway and said material transfer station is mounted on the galloway, locating the galloway and the material transfer station at a bottom part of the mine shaft; launching one or more tunnels from the bottom part of the mine shaft, and removing material excavated in the tunnel excavation by transporting that material from the tunnel to the material handling unit and operating that system to transport the material to the surface region, wherein on completion of the shaft formation, the material transfer station is at or near the bottom of the mine shaft and the tunnel excavation material is fed to the material transfer station into the skip or skips. forming said mine shaft by excavating earth from beneath a galloway and said material transfer station is mounted on the galloway, locating the galloway and the material transfer station at a bottom part of the mine shaft; launching one or more tunnels from the bottom part of the mine shaft, and removing material excavated in the tunnel excavation by transporting that material from the tunnel to the material handling unit and operating that system to transport the material to the surface region, wherein on completion of the shaft formation, the material transfer station is at or near the bottom of the mine shaft and the tunnel excavation material is fed to the material transfer station into the skip or skips.