The 26-year-old told police she had gone for a late-night walk on Friday when she tripped and fell down the eight-metre shaft.

The woman was reported missing from her Lightning Ridge camp on Saturday after she failed to return home, Inspector Dave Checkley said.

He said officers did vehicle patrols looking for the woman on Saturday evening, as the day's 40-degree heat and the "hundreds" of mine shafts in the area made searching dangerous.

On Sunday about 10.20am, she was spotted in the mine shaft by a police drone.

"She was found down the mine shaft about 100 metres away from her camp," Inspector Checkley said.

"We got water to her straight away, and those mine shafts are fairly cold, so she was quite cold on the first night.

"It's about 22 degrees down there, she was actually shivering overnight."

Officers from the Western Region Rescue Unit used a pulley and harness to bring her to the surface, an operation that took about an hour from start to finish.

"There's that safety aspect to it," he said.

"We were aware she didn't have any serious injuries either."

Inspector Checkley said the woman was "absolutely" lucky she had only suffered minor abrasions and a possible blood nose.

She was taken to Lightning Ridge hospital in a stable condition.

Inspector Checkley said the woman was living in camp there with her husband, and they had a mining lease.

"Her husband was quite concerned, her mother was in tears when I told her we found her," he said.

The inspector said it was a "good result" and police would be continuing their investigations into the incident.