Stranger Things: Can You Mine the Upside Down?

🚨Warning: Spoilers Ahead 🚨

Netflix’s Stranger Things Season 4 finale is finally here, which has us at Prospector wondering, what if we could mine the Upside Down? Naturally, there is a Reddit thread that explores this question.

This is a valid question albeit a hypothetical one about a fictional world.

However, if we are going to take this serious, there needs to be some basic facts established in order to ensure this is a productive discussion. 

Alright, now that is cleared we can move forward and proceed with the mining, the lumber mills and oil extraction….right? 

We broke down the discussion into the Pros and Cons below. 

Pros:

• The Upside Down is an alternate dimension existing in parallel with Earth, so we can assume the resources that are in this dimension are there as well. 
  
  
• Very few people know about it (in the series), so you could basically own a monopoly on mining it. However, the main competition for mining would be the USSR. 

• The same equipment that we use in underground mining could possibly be used in the Upside Down as well, to combat the darkness and possible toxic gasses, run ventilation through the gates, etc.

• The Upside Down is an alternate copy of our world, so there may be a possibility of alternate natural resource availability. 

Cons:

• Demogorgons and other monsters are very deadly, although they can be killed with bullets and explosives. This could seriously affect the safety of miners. 

• If the gates aren’t guarded, Demogorgons can escape to this world. Which would not be good for the PR side of the Upside Down mining company. 

• No reliable access, and the gates that are open are generally inconvenient.

• Not a lot is known about the Upside Down, since it has only been briefly explored. 

• If resources are being depleted in this dimension, there is a large possibility that resources are already mined in the Upside Down since it exists in parallel to this world. However, there is a theory that the Upside Down is frozen in the moment that it was created, which could possibly mean the resources aren't depleted there. 

• Possible mildly toxic air and background radiation.

• Transferring resources between the Upside Down and this world could prove to be very difficult. 

• The rift “gates” to the Upside Down were essentially created by child labor and experimentation, which isn’t great. 

• Royalties to Vecna would probably be expensive, if he even agreed to mining in the first place.

Do the benefits of mining the Upside Down outweigh the risks?

Let us know what you think in the comments! However, if you’re looking for minerals to mine in this dimension be sure to check out the projects on Prospector as your first stop!