One of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, the Cananea mine produced over 164,000 tonnes of copper in 2006. The active, 2-kilometer-diameter Colorada Pit is recognizable by the concentric steps, or benches, cut around its perimeter.
Published Apr 21, 2008
This astronaut photograph illustrates three open-pit copper mines located west-northwest of the town of Green Valley, Arizona.
Published Feb 8, 2010
One of Earth’s richest borate deposits is at the center of the largest open-pit mine in California.
Published Nov 11, 2013
The impoundment area for waste materials associated with the Escondida Copper Mine in Chile is centered in this astronaut photograph from December 9, 2009.
Published Apr 5, 2010
The rugged, mineral-rich Andes support some of the world’s biggest mines (gold, silver, copper, and more). This image looks down the bullseye of Peru’s Toquepala copper mine, a steep sided and stepped open-pit mine.
Published Oct 13, 2003
Located in the Sudirman Mountains of the Irian Jaya province of Indonesia, the Grasberg complex is one of the largest gold and copper mining operations in the world.
Published Aug 1, 2005
The pit near Phalaborwa and Kruger National Park is the most visible sign of a long history of mining in the region.
Published Jul 30, 2019
The terraced layers of red earth that make up the Carajás Iron Ore Mine contrast with the deep green Amazon Rainforest in this cloud-free image.
Published Jul 29, 2009
The Bingham Canyon Mine is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, measuring over 4 kilometers wide and 1,200 meters deep. Mining first began in Bingham Canyon in the late nineteenth century, when shafts were sunk to remove gold, silver, and lead deposits that played out by the early 1900s. It would take the advent of open-pit mining in 1899 to turn the Bingham copper deposit into an economically favorable resource.
Published Oct 22, 2007
otswana ranks first among the world’s gem-quality diamond producers, and diamond mining makes up 70 percent of the nation’s export revenue. The Jwaneng Diamond Mine, in south-central Botswana, sits atop the convergence of three kimberlite pipes—diamond-rich geologic formations. Because the pipes meet just below the surface and cover some 520,000 square meters (128.5 acres) at ground level, the diamonds are mined from an open pit rather than a mine tunneled below the surface.
Published Oct 26, 2008
Mined for gold, silver, and copper, the region of Butte, Montana, had already earned the nickname of “The Richest Hill on Earth” by the end of the 19th century.
Published Nov 13, 2006
