Because of Uieir demonstrated capabilities in attaining high rates of advance in civil tunnel construction, the hard rock mining industry has always shown a major interest in the use of TBMs for mine development, primarily for development of entries, as well as ventilation, haulage and production drifts. The successful application of TBM technology to mining depends on the selection of the most suitable equipment and cutting tools for the rock and ground conditions to be encountered. In addition to geotechnical investigations and required rock testing, cutterhead design optimization is an integral part of the machine selection to ensure a successful application of the machines in a specific underground mine environment. This paper presents and discusses selected case histories of TBM applications in mining, the lessons learned, the process of laboratory testing together with machine selection and performance estimation methods.