Open pit mining also known as open-cut mining or opencast mining is a mining technology of extracting minerals from the surface of the Earth, Here are the top 10 Most incredible open pit mining centres in the world,
Open Pit Mining
1.Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine
Bingham Canyon mine found south-west of Salt Lake City, Utah, US, is the most profound open pit mine on the planet. The Bingham Canyon pit is more than 1.2km profound and roughly four kilometres wide.
The mine, which is possessed and worked by Rio Tinto Kennecott, has been underway since 1906. The recoverable stores at the open-pit surpassed 2.9Mt of copper, 2.8Moz of gold, 31Moz of silver and 240,000t of molybdenum as of December 2012.
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Image Source: Loco Steve (Flickr)
2.Chuquicamata
Chuquicamata copper mine arranged 1,650km north of Santiago, Chile, is the second most profound open-pit mine on the planet.
Chuquicamata, otherwise called the Chuqui open pit, is 4.3km long, three kilometres wide and more than 850m profound. Chuquicamata copper mine has been in task for over a century. The mine is claimed and worked by the Chilean state venture Codelco. The open-pit mine created 443,000t of copper in 2011.
Practicality thinks about is in progress to change to underground creation at Chuquicamata before the finish of 2018. The mineral save under the current pit is evaluated to be 1.7 billion tons reviewing at 0.7% copper. The underground improvement venture is evaluated to cost more than $4bn.
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Image Source: Wikimedia
3.Escondida
Escondida copper mine situated in the Atacama Desert, Chile, positions as the third most profound open-pit activity. Escondida copper mining task comprises of two open-pit mines, in particular, Escondida pit and Escondida Norte pit. The Escondida pit is 3.9km long, 2.7km wide and 645m profound. The Escondida Norte pit is 525m profound.
BHP Billiton is the administrator of the mine with 57.5% intrigue. Rio Tinto holds a 30% stake in the mine. Escondida is right now the world’s biggest copper creating mine. It delivered 1.1Mt of copper in the money related year finishing June 2013, which represents around five per cent of worldwide copper generation. Escondida’s recoverable copper save was assessed to be more than 32.6Mt as of December 2012.
Image Source: NASA
4.Udachny
Udachny precious stone mine situated in the Eastern-Siberian Region of Russia is as of now the fourth most profound open pit mine on the planet. The Udachny pit is right now 630m profound. The Udachny mine is claimed and worked by Russia’s state-possessed organization Alrosa. The mine created ten million carats of jewel for every year until 2011.
The plausible contained precious stone save at the open-pit was assessed to be 4.4 million carats starting in July 2013. The Udachny open pit activity is booked to shut in 2014 with the opening of Udachny underground mine which is under development. The contained precious stone stores for Udachny underground mining are assessed to be in excess of 108 million carats.
Image Source: Wikimedia
5.Muruntau gold deposit
Muruntau mine in Uzbekistan, physically one of the biggest open pit gold mines on the planet, positions as the fifth most profound open pit. The Muruntau open pit is 3.5km long and three kilometres wide. The profundity of the mine has achieved recently more than 600m. Muruntau was found in 1958. Mining activities began in 1967. Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinant possess and work the mine.
The last pit profundity under the present mine arrangement is accounted for to be 650m, after which the mine will change to underground activity.
Murnau’s contained gold stores and asset including the authentic generation is apparently evaluated at 170Moz. The dig is known for its creation limit of about 2Moz of gold every year with averaging mineral evaluation of 2.4g/t gold.
Image Source: Wikimedia
6. Fimiston Open Pit (Super Pit)
The Fimiston Open pit, otherwise called the Super Pit, situated on south-east edge of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, is the 6th most profound open-pit mine on the planet. The gold delivering open pit mine is 3.8km long, 1.5km wide and up to 600m profound.
The mine is possessed and worked by Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM), a 50-50 joint endeavour organization contained Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining. The mine created 296,000oz of gold amid the primary portion of 2013. The demonstrated and likely holds at Filmiston open pit as of December 2012 was evaluated to be more than 8Moz.
Image Source: Wikimedia
7. Grasberg mine
Grasberg mine situated in the Papua territory of Indonesia as of now positions as the world’s seventh most profound open pit activity. The emulating task at Grasberg comprises of both open pit and underground mines. The Grasberg open pit is more than 550m profound. Grasberg is the biggest gold mine on the planet.
The mine likewise creates copper and silver. The Grasberg open pit activity began in 1990 and expected to proceed up to 2016. The mine is worked by Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), an auxiliary of Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold (FCX) which possesses 90.64% of the Grasberg mining task.
The mine created 862,000 ounces of gold and 695Mlbs of copper in 2012. The demonstrated and plausible metal save at Grasberg (open pit + underground) as of December 2012 was evaluated at 2.424Mt reviewing 0.83g/t gold, 4.24g/t silver and one per cent copper.
Image Source: Wikimedia
8.Betze-post Mine
Betze-post pit, a piece of Barrick Gold’s Goldstrike activity situated on the Carlin Trend, Nevada, US, is the eighth most profound open pit mine on the planet. The gold delivering open-pit is about 2.2km long and 1.5km wide. The profundity of the pit is well above 500m. Betze-Post is a truck-and-scoop task. Vast electric scoops are utilized for open pit mining.
Goldstrike activity additionally incorporates Meikle and Rodeo underground mines found only north of the Betze-Post pit. The all-out creation from Goldstrike activity amid the main portion of 2013 was 417,000oz. The contained gold held at the Goldstrike open-pit as of December 2012 was assessed to be 8.93Moz (5.34Moz demonstrated and 3.59Moz likely).
Image Source: Wikimedia
9.Nanfen iron mine
Nanfen open pit iron mine, situated in Nanfen area of the Liaoning territory, China, is around 500m profound. It is one of the biggest open-pit metal mines in China. Nanfen open pit mine is possessed and worked by Benxi Iron and Steel Corporation (Benxi Steel). The mine created in excess of 100 million tons of iron metal in 2011.
It was the most extreme iron mineral yield by a solitary Chinese mine for each year. An arrangement for beginning underground mining activity at Nanfen has been in progress since 2011 as keeping up the mine slant solidness is getting to be troublesome with the slow increment of the pit’s profundity.
Image Source: Luís Ribeiro e Sousa (Research Gate)
10.Aitik
Aitik open pit mine situated about 60km north of the Arctic Circle in Northern Sweden is as of now 430m profound. The open pit is relied upon to achieve a last profundity of 600m. Aitik is the biggest copper mine in Sweden. The mine additionally creates silver and gold. The Aitik mine was found in 1930.
The open pit mine is claimed and worked by Boliden. Generation from the mine began in 1968 with an unassuming creation rate of two million tons of copper metal a year. The mine delivered 34.3 million tons of metal in 2012. The mineral yield amid the year included 270,000t of concentrate, 67,100t of copper, 51.7t of silver and 1.9t of gold.
Image Source: Wikimedia
These are the open pit mining centers in the world. Do post your comments.
