The minecart or mine cart is a transportation tool for moving ore and materials in the process of mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

. Minecarts are seldom used in modern operations. Shaped like large, rectangular buckets, minecarts ride on steel tracks and are pushed or pulled by men, animals, or engines. Minecarts range in size and usage, and are usually made of metal for hauling ore

Ore

An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....

. Throughout the world, there are different titles for such carts. In South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, for instance, a minecart is referred to as a "cocopan".

Minecarts in popular culture

Minecarts have been depicted as a type of thrill ride; for instance Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones

Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...

 used one in an escape scene. Similar minecart escape levels are common in video games, especially the Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platformer video game developed by Rare, featuring the character Donkey Kong. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. Following an intense marketing campaign, the original SNES version sold over 8 million copies worldwide, making...

 series. A minecart is also featured in Hoodwinked

Hoodwinked

Hoodwinked!, also titled Hoodwinked on its theatrical poster and in other sources, is a 2005 American computer-animated family action comedy film, produced by Blue Yonder Films with Kanbar Entertainment, directed by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech, and produced by Maurice Kanbar, David K....

. Minecarts have also been popularized in the computer game Minecraft

Minecraft

Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...

as a form of fast transportation.