Today, both underground and open-face mines are in operation, and the streets of the city are built between the mines and the asbestos tailings. In the 1950s a major part of downtown was relocated to enlarge the King mine. Called the "Capitale mondiale de l'amiante" (Asbestos Capital of the World) and the "Cité de l'or blanc" (City of White Gold), Thetford Mines is the largest production centre for this fibre in the Western world. Since the 1980s, awareness of the health hazards associated with asbestos has caused demand to fall, resulting in a decrease of production and thus a reduction of the number of people employed in the industry. The city has also developed other sectors such as trailer, snowmobile, mining-equipment and plastics factories. Thetford Mines is also the administrative centre of the regional county municipality of Amiante. The city has a famous mineralogy and mining museum (1976).