Open-pit mining: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:50, 18 January 2024

Revision as of 12:20, 10 March 2024

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[[File:Sunrise Dam Gold Mine open pit 11.jpg|thumb|alt=Refer to caption.|Note the angled and stepped sides of the [[Sunrise Dam Gold Mine]], Australia.]]

[[File:Tagebau Garzweiler bei Otzerath Schaufelradbagger Januar2008.ogv|thumb|A bucket-wheel excavator extracting lignite from [[Garzweiler surface mine]] in Germany during 2008]]

To create an open-pit mine, the miners must determine the information of the ore that is underground. This is done through drilling of probe holes in the ground, then plotting each hole ___location on a map. The information gained through the holes withto provide an idea of the vertical extent of the ore's body. This vertical information is then used to pit tentative locations of the benches that will occur in the mine.<ref name=eb>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/mining|title=Mining|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2019-04-01}}</ref> It is important to consider the grade and economic value of the ore in the potential pit.<ref name=eb /> Open-pit mines that produce [[building material]]s and [[dimension stone]] are commonly referred to as [[quarries]].

Open-pit mines are typically enlarged until either the [[mineral resource classification|mineral resource]] is exhausted, or an increasing ratio of overburden to ore makes further mining uneconomic. When this occurs, the exhausted mines are sometimes converted to [[landfill]]s for disposal of solid wastes. However, some form of water control is usually required to keep the mine pit from becoming a lake, if the mine is situated in a climate of considerable [[precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]] or if any layers of the pit forming the mine border productive [[aquifer]]s. In Germany and adjacent countries several former open-pit mines have been deliberately converted into artificial lakes, forming areas such as the [[Lusatian Lake District]], the [[Central German Lake District]] or the [[Upper Palatinate Lake District]]. A particular concern in the formation of these lakes is [[acid mine drainage]].