MineArchiveThe Trisilicate Mines of Peladon
Fictional record. This page describes a mine from a fictional setting, not a real place. Information is based on the cited canon, with adaptations and interpretation distinguished where necessary. It is kept separate from the real MineArchive corpus — see Fictional.
| Also known as | The mines of Peladon |
|---|---|
| Setting | Doctor Who (BBC) |
| Location | Under the royal Citadel of Peladon, a mountain planet on the edge of the Galactic Federation. The mine face, the tunnels, the main seam and the Federation refinery are all within walking distance of the throne room. |
| Type | Trisilicate |
| Worked | Not dated. Peladon's mineral wealth is already the Federation's reason for courting the planet in 1972's The Curse of Peladon, fifty years before the events here. – Not closed. The mines are working at the end of the serial, with the miners' leader Gebek appointed Chancellor. |
| Extent | A main seam reached by tunnel from the mine face, with caves opening off it. The Doctor identifies a worked vein as "a thick line of glowing crystal" running down a cave wall. No depth, length or output figure is given. |
| Controlled by | The Crown of Peladon (Throughout), The Galactic Federation (From Peladon's accession, fifty years before the serial) |
Overview
The trisilicate workings beneath the Citadel of Peladon: a feudal planet's only export, a Galactic Federation war economy's most important mineral, and the setting for a strike, an occupation and a hostage-shooting, broadcast between the two British miners' strikes of 1972 and 1974.
History
Peladon joined the Galactic Federation fifty years before the events of the serial, on the strength of the minerals under it; in The Curse of Peladon the Arcturan delegate observes that his own planet lacks mineral deposits and that Peladon has them in abundance, while High Priest Hepesh warns that the Federation will "exploit us for our minerals, enslave us with their machines". Half a century on, the Doctor puts the result plainly: "It's fifty years now since Peladon joined the Galactic Federation, and what have the miners got to show for it? Harder work for the same rewards." What they cut is trisilicate. The Federation engineer Eckersley lists what it is for — "electronic circuitry, heat shields, inert microcell fibres, radionic crystals" — and adds that whoever holds the supply will win the Federation's war against the confederation of Galaxy Five. Production must therefore be stepped up, and the Federation's answer is a sonic lance that will "increase the output tenfold" by cutting direct access to the main seam. The miners will not use it. Apparitions of Aggedor, the royal beast, begin appearing at the face and killing men — among them the Federation's own engineer Vega Nexos — and the workforce reads the deaths as a judgement on the new machinery. Gebek, their leader, argues that withdrawing labour is leverage: "The Federation must have the trisilicate. If we refuse to work, they will put pressure on Ortron to grant our demands." The militant Ettis answers that the Federation will simply "import alien workers and mine the ore with their new machines", raids the armoury, and turns the sonic lance on the Citadel. The strike brings in troops. Ice Warriors under Commander Azaxyr declare martial law, and Azaxyr's method is stated without euphemism: until the miners return to work, selected hostages will be killed one an hour, and if terror fails the Federation will "bring in Federation workers, Federation machinery and mine the trisilicate ourselves". The haunting turns out to have been an image projected from the refinery: Eckersley and Azaxyr are both agents of Galaxy Five, engineering the crisis to break the supply. Both are killed, Galaxy Five capitulates, and Queen Thalira makes Gebek her Chancellor.
Workings
Worked from a mine face reached by tunnel, with the main seam behind it and caves opening off the tunnels. Cutting is by hand until the Federation brings in the sonic lance, a beam tool that opens direct access to the seam and is expected to multiply output tenfold; it is portable enough for the striking miners to carry it out of the mine and use it as artillery. The ore goes to a Federation refinery on the surface, run by the human engineer Eckersley and not staffed by Pels.
Closure
None. Work stops twice — once when the miners strike, once when the Ice Warriors occupy the planet — and resumes both times.
What became of it
Working, under a court that now includes the miners' own leader: Gebek ends the serial as Chancellor of Peladon, with Queen Thalira intending to remake the relationship between the Citadel and the men underneath it.
Canon & adaptations
No televised story gives the workings a name of their own; the serial calls them simply "the mine", and the commodity supplies the rest. Trisilicate is introduced in The Curse of Peladon (1972) as the material of an Ice Warrior sonic weapon and only becomes the planet's export and the Federation's strategic mineral in The Monster of Peladon (1974). Terrance Dicks's Target novelisation of December 1980 has not been read for this record and nothing here rests on it.
Recorded claims
Each claim is marked with its basis — explicit canon, MineArchive inference, adaptation only, or fandom interpretation — and attached to the source(s) below. Where tellings disagree, both are kept.
- The workings produce trisilicate, which the Federation engineer Eckersley says underpins electronic circuitry, heat shields, inert microcell fibres and radionic crystals, and whose supply he believes will decide the Federation's war with Galaxy Five. (explicit canon) 1
- The Federation brings in a sonic lance to cut direct access to the main seam, expecting it to increase output tenfold. The miners refuse to work it after apparitions of Aggedor kill men at the face, including the Federation engineer Vega Nexos. (explicit canon) 1
- The miners withdraw their labour under Gebek, whose case is that the Federation must have the trisilicate and will therefore press Chancellor Ortron to concede; Ettis argues the Federation will simply import alien workers and machines, and takes the armoury instead. (explicit canon) 1,2
- Commander Azaxyr's Ice Warriors place Peladon under martial law and hold hostages to be killed one an hour until the miners return to work, with the alternative stated as importing Federation workers and machinery to mine the trisilicate directly. (explicit canon) 1
- The Aggedor apparitions were an image worked from the Federation refinery by Eckersley, who with Azaxyr was an agent of Galaxy Five; the object was to interrupt trisilicate production and bring the supply under Galaxy Five's control. (explicit canon) 1,2
- Peladon joined the Galactic Federation fifty years earlier on the strength of its minerals — the Arcturan delegate notes his own planet lacks deposits and Peladon has them in abundance — and the Doctor's verdict on the bargain is that the miners have harder work for the same rewards. (explicit canon) 1,3
Sources
- (primary canon) The Monster of Peladon — camera script transcript, Doctor Who season 11 story 4 (1974) — chakoteya.net Doctor Who transcripts
- (interpretation) The Monster of Peladon — Wikipedia
- (primary canon) The Curse of Peladon — camera script transcript, Doctor Who season 9 story 2 (1972) — chakoteya.net Doctor Who transcripts
Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 23 September 2026