The Collaborative International Dictionary
Winze \Winze\, n. (Mining.) A small shaft sunk from one level to another, as for the purpose of ventilation.
Wiktionary
n. A steep shaft in a mine which joins two levels.
Wikipedia
A winze is a minor connection between different levels in an underground mine. When worked upwards from a lower level it is usually called a raise; when sunk downward from a higher level it may be called a sump. The top of a winze is located underground and it is not equipped with winding gear, in contrast to a shaft, which is a deeper connection between levels and does have winding gear, whether the top of the excavation is located on the surface or underground.
Usage examples of "winze".
Say you that we must watch our step in case we fall down some winze or ventilation shaft to a lower level?
The winze sloped down to a drift, which narrowed till it was no wider than my body.
I went down the winze and turned left into a narrower gallery, following the air.
He waited for an hour after full darkness, then made his way through the narrow winze that had eroded past the end of the steel wall.
Anyone he might meet down here would have the advantage of knowing the mine--he would know every manway, every cross-cut, raise, or winze.
Talking about ore, leads, offshoots, shafts, and winzes and most of them never held a muck-stick in their hands, let alone a single-jack or a drill.
He had mined and was knowledgeable about ores, timber construction, shafts, winzes, raises, and the new square-sets, but he had no formal education, and his awareness of her world was from his limited reading only.