As said, if the temperature were too much for the Mac Mini it would switch itself off.
More importantly, modern processors are aware of their own temperature, and will throttle their performance in order to remain within a target temperature. If you've seen a processor mention TDP then this is partly what this refers to, along with the maximum power that the part should draw.
While this means it's safe to run the processor for long periods, it also means that your Mac Mini may only run at the true maximum speed of its processor in short bursts; during prolonged use it will settle at a level that keeps it within its target temperature. This is one of the things that distinguishes a quad-core Mac Mini from a quad-core Mac Pro (once you've adjusted for other differences) as the Mac Pro is designed to run with the processor at full speed for prolonged periods (though it presumably still throttles a bit if you also push both GPUs as well).