July 7th, 2016

The Super Pit mine located in Western Australia is also one of the largest and most famous. It produces more than 780,000 ounces of gold annually for its owners, Newmont Mining and Barrick Gold. Super Pit is Australia's largest open-pit mine, with a pit length of about 3,500 meters and a width of about 1,500 meters. The depth of the quarry is also impressive, it is about 570 meters.

Let's take a closer look at it...

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About 550 employees work directly at the mine site, not counting the specialists who service the transport system of the industrial area. The Super Pit gold mine was discovered at the end of the 19th century; initially, the extraction of the precious metal was carried out in small mines, without the use of any special equipment. In 2001, the mines were united into a single industrial complex, and by 2009, the construction of the huge mine was completely completed.

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Gold mining at the Super Pit mine is not only the largest, but also one of the most difficult in Australia. The thing is that the precious metal in the processed rock is contained in the form of telluride. This mineral cannot be processed using the usual purification method - cyanidation, therefore a lot of money and effort is spent on its multi-stage processing and purification of gold from impurities.

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Mining at the Super Pit is carried out by open-pit mines, loaders and trucks. During the history of the existence of one of the world's largest mines, more than 295 million cubic meters of rock were raised from here.

During the day they work under the scorching sun, at night in the light of spotlights. At night, the mine looks like the set of a science-fiction action movie about another alien takeover of the Earth. Most of the giant machines are owned by gold mining company Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM). And while in many mines around the world truck drivers work three shifts, here in Kalgoorlie they spend 12 hours behind the wheel.

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Meanwhile, hundreds of tourists who come here from all over the world watch the busy life of the mine from a special observation deck. The picture is truly breathtaking: giant trucks moving through a huge quarry with wheels twice the height of a man and a driver’s cabin located at the height of a four-story building, from here, from the site, seem like small toy cars.

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Caterpillar 797B, with a gross weight of 623,690 kg, this giant is capable of transporting up to 345 tons of cargo at a time. If we take into account the total weight, then this is the heaviest car in the world. But the CAT 797B is notable for more than just its weight and size. It is the only one of the giant dump trucks to use a traditional transmission with a gearbox and the supply of torque to the wheels through the final drive. The remaining giants - Liebherr, Terex, BelAZ - use a diesel-electric transmission to drive the wheels.

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Structurally, the 797 is the most ordinary car, perhaps slightly exaggerated. The 117.1 liter diesel engine (no typo here) sends killer torque to a seven-speed hydro-mechanical planetary gearbox - the largest in the automotive world! And from there the Newton meters are sent to another grandiose engineering structure - the main gear, where they increase 21 times, taking on truly astronomical values. The final link in this chain is the massive dual rear wheels. The largest tires in the world, mounted on 63-inch wheels, were developed by Michelin specifically for this model. The mastodon turns by rotating the front wheels, like a regular car. Not by muscle power, slightly enhanced by hydraulic drive, but by hydraulic motors driven from the main internal combustion engine. In case the diesel engine stalls, emergency hydraulic accumulators are provided. With their help, you can make up to three 90-degree turns while the engine is not running. Deceleration is carried out by engine braking, as well as multi-disc brake mechanisms with forced oil cooling.

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The CAT 797B is rivaled only by the Liebherr T282B, the world's largest electric powertrain truck. This giant can carry 363 tons of cargo in its bucket - 18 tons more than Caterpillar. When the 14.5 m long and 8.8 m wide dump truck was first shown to the general public at the 2004 Munich Construction Exhibition, it was immediately dubbed the “eighth wonder of the world.” Mainly not for its impressive size and menacing appearance, but for the fact that it is capable of carrying a load one and a half times its own weight. According to this indicator, which characterizes the level of engineering perfection of the design, the Liebherr T 282 B outperforms all other giant specimens. The 20-cylinder, 3,650-horsepower diesel engine of the 90-liter truck spins an alternator that “powers” ​​the electric motors of the rear dual wheels. Due to the features of the electric transmission, the car accelerates faster, although it has a slightly lower top speed than the CAT 797B. When braking, the motor-wheels work here as generators, saving the life of the working brake mechanisms. Disc brakes on all wheels are used as parking brakes. The steering is hydraulic, about the same as Caterpillar.

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If there is one thing that career giants are inferior to a regular car, it is speed. However, they have no need for recklessness. On the territory of the quarry, where, in fact, their whole life takes place, they move at a permitted speed of 40 km/h. At the same time, the 797B has a maximum speed of about 68 km/h, the speed of the Liebherr T 282 B is approximately 3 km/h less. Having time to turn around in 35–40 minutes and get back under the bucket of an equally gigantic hydraulic mining excavator (for example, Komatsu PC8000 or PC8000-6), a heavily loaded dump truck spends two-thirds of this time getting out of the quarry to the surface. These giants spend their entire working lives in the mines. Under no circumstances can such a truck get there on its own along an ordinary road, because there will simply be nothing left of it. They are delivered to the mines in parts, in containers, and assembled on site. Of course, any car - be it the tiny Peel P50, the world's smallest car from 1962, or the giant Liebherr T 282 B - requires constant maintenance. It needs to be refueled, maintained, and repaired. Each instance working in the quarries is served by dozens of trucks, trains or helicopters (as, for example, in some mines in South America, where there are no railway connections or corresponding road routes). This includes the delivery of fuel, which is poured into giant tanks located permanently at the mine, and maintenance, and huge workshops - all this together makes up an extremely developed, expensive infrastructure.

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Each of the giant mechanisms itself costs a fortune. The average price of a CAT 797, for example, is just under four million US dollars. Accordingly, its maintenance costs, as well as spare parts for it. The price of a 59/80R63 XDR tire is about $200,000, but if, for example, the engine burns out, then it will take about $1 million to replace it. The only way these massive machines can recoup their cost is by running smoothly and without trouble 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. As soon as the dump truck reaches the mine, from the very first minute everything is aimed at only one thing - to quickly recoup the millions of expenses; Every time the giant's body is filled with ore, it earns its value. Let me note right away: with the cost of the dump truck itself being several million dollars, the costs of delivering equipment to the place of work, and developing and maintaining infrastructure, these giants usually pay for themselves faster than other equipment - in less than 12 months! And their size plays a significant role in this. After all, the fewer trips a truck makes, the more ore it can load, the faster it will pay for itself. Transporting 300–360 tons of rock at a time, the giant copes with its task perfectly.

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It would seem that we can put an end to this, because all conceivable and inconceivably huge mechanisms have already been invented, exist, and work. Does it make sense to continue working in this direction? Where is the ceiling, after reaching which there is no point in developing new supergiants and it is necessary to look for fundamentally new solutions? How huge can the monster be and is it time to stop? However, authoritative experts say: “The ceiling has not yet been reached and will not be reached in the near future. The fact is that at the current pace of development of mechanization, new promising technologies, further improvement of engines, with the constant development and increase in the level of modern electronics, the creation of new supergiants is quite realistic, and most importantly, economically justified.”

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Creating artificial islands or destroying natural mountains: people are constantly changing the face of the planet. And the miners cope excellently with this task by changing ever larger areas of the landscape. Some pits dug by crushers in an attempt to extract ore are true marvels of technology, and the largest of them are visible from space.

Some of these amazing examples of human ability to subjugate nature are created in the form of open pits. This mining method is used when resources lie too close to the surface and the soil composition does not allow tunneling. Through the efforts of miners, careers grow until resources are exhausted. After the quarries are depleted, they turn into landfills or artificial lakes, but despite this they continue to amaze the imagination with their scale. We invite you to see the best of the largest quarries in the world.

Diamond tube "Mir"

Owner: Alrosa
Resources: diamonds
Location: Russia, Mirny
Development started in 1957

Currently, it is the second largest man-made crater in the world. This diamond mine is located in Russia, near the city of Mirny. “The World” is so huge that flights are prohibited over it, since the mine workings create a very strong downdraft of air. The quarry, whose development began in 1957, produced up to 10 million carats of diamonds per year until its closure in 2011. "The World" was notorious for its terrible conditions. In winter, the temperature in the quarry drops so much that it freezes machine oil and rubber, and leads to the gradual collapse of the quarry. By the time the mine was closed, the time it took to lift the car from the bottom of the quarry to the surface reached 2 hours.

Diamond tube "Davik"

Owner: Rio Tinto (60%), Harry Winston Diamond Corporation (40%)
Resources: diamonds
Location: Canada
Development started in 2003

The Diavik diamond pipe is located in Canada and is no less impressive than the Mir, despite the fact that it is significantly smaller than its Russian counterpart. Diavik produces 8 million carats of diamonds per year, and the development of the mine began in 2003. It is most notable for the fact that it is located on the island of Lac De Grace, which allows you to observe amazing metamorphoses: in the summer the quarry is surrounded by crystalline water, and in winter it is shrouded in an icy desert. There is a winter road leading to Diavik - the seasonal road is accessible only two months a year, it stretches along the surface of a frozen lake 375 km north of Yellowknife. The rest of the time, you can only get to Diavik by air.

Bingham Canyon

Owner: Rio Tinto
Resources: copper
Location: Utah, USA
Development started in 1904

Visible from space and also known as Kennecott, the Bingham Canyon copper mine is the deepest mine in the world. The discoverers of the mine were the Mormons - who discovered it in the mid-19th century, at that time the deposit reached 1.2 km deep, 2.5 miles wide and occupied an area of ​​more than 7.7 km 2. Surprisingly, despite the fact that the quarry is being developed since 1904, production at the field is expected to continue until 2030.

Calgory Super Pit

Owner: Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines
Resources: Gold
Location: Calgory, Australia
Development began in 1989.

The Phemiston Open Pit gold mine is the largest gold mine in the world and is commonly referred to as the Super Pit. The oblong-shaped section is located in western Australia, reaches 3.5 km in length, 1.5 km in width and drops to a depth of more than 320 meters. Super Pit produces more than 850 thousand ounces of gold per year.

Hal-Rust-Mahoning Quarry

Owner: Hibbing Taconite
Resources: Iron Ore
Location: Minnesota, USA
Development started in 1893

The Mahoning quarry began to be developed as an underground mine, but the iron ore turned out to be too close to the surface and the development had to be carried out using an open pit method. Now the Mahoning quarry reaches 8 km in length, 3.2 km in width and 180 meters in depth. During the development of the field, it was decided to combine several smaller workings into one large quarry. For such a “merger” it was necessary to move the city of Hibbing, located in close proximity to the quarries. Relocating the city took 2 years and $16 million, during which time nearly 200 residential buildings and 20 office buildings were moved. At its peak between World War I and World War II, the mine produced 14 percent of all iron ore produced in the United States. Today, almost 100 years later, the Hibbing Taconite Company still uses Mahoning for mining.

Toquepala

Owner: Southern Copper Corporation
Resources: Copper
Location: Tacna, Peru
Development started in 1960

The Andes are home to several of the world's largest mines. Toquepala reaches 700 meters in depth, and the diameter reaches more than 2.5 km. Looking at the photograph taken by a NASA satellite, you can see the giant rock dumps that have formed artificial mountains along the northern part of the mine.

Diamond pipe "Ekati"

Owner: BHP Billiton
Resources: Diamonds
Location: Northwest Canada
Development started in 1998

Ekati is located 300 km from Yellowknife, and was discovered during the gold rush. Since the project opened in 1985, lands from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Circle have been resold like geological lottery tickets. The scientific discovery that proved that kimberlite pipes are a sign of a diamond deposit made Yekati another Jack later in this lottery.

Kimberley Quarry

Owner: Da Beers
Resources: diamonds
Location: Kimberley, South Africa
Development started in 1871

The name - Giant Hole - is what really lets your imagination run wild. The section, 240 meters deep, is the largest mine in the world where mining was carried out manually. The field was originally owned by the Da Beer brothers, which led to a battle over patent licenses with Hal-Rust-Mahoning.

After 16 years of excavations in extremely harsh conditions, small quarries located in the region came to the decision to create a conglomerate, and unite all workings in one company, Da Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. After lying abandoned for more than 100 years, the mine was turned into a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Grasberg Quarry

Owner: Freeport-McMoRan
Resources: copper, gold
Location: Papua, Indonesia
Development started in 1990

The Grasberg deposit is the largest gold mine in the world and the third largest copper mine. Grasberg's turbulent past includes dozens of expeditions, a rebel attack and $55 million in over-budget construction.
In the 1930s, a Dutch scientific expedition set out to explore one of the highest peaks in the Dutch East Indies. The expedition report reported the discovery of reserves of gold and copper, which later became the Ertsberg Quarry. Due to inaccessibility - the field is located in a mountain range at an altitude of more than 4,100 meters above sea level - construction costs were estimated at $175 million; the project involved the construction of 116 km of roads, an airstrip, a power plant and a port. In 1977, a group of rebels attacked the mine and caused sabotage by planting explosives on the railway line.

Ten years after the attack, Freeport concluded that production had been depleted and began exploring the area around the field in hopes of producing smaller associated deposits. The company hit the jackpot at the Grasberg deposit, located 3 km from Ertsberg with maximum copper reserves of $40 billion. In the aerial photographs below you can see what Grasberg looks like now. And although Östberg began to be developed in the 30s and about $175 million was invested in it, it is too small to be visible.

Chuquicamata

Owner: CODELCO
Resources:: copper, gold
Location: Chile
Development started in 1882

If we talk about volumes, you will not find production larger than the Chilean Chuquicamata. Having moved to the state. property after the Chilean nationalization of 1970, the workings reached 4.3 km long, 3 km wide and almost 900 meters deep.

For a brief period, Chuquicamata held the largest annual production volume. Prior to its merger with the Escondida quarry in 2002, the quarry operated the largest smelter and largest electrolytic refinery in the world. It is obvious that the area in the mine area was used for many hundreds of centuries; 17 years after the start of work, a “copper man” dating back to 500 BC was discovered in a blocked temporary working.

Escondida

Owner: Minera Escondida
Resources: Copper
Location: Atacama Desert, Chile
Development started in 1990

Escondida produces more copper than any other quarry in the world. In 2007, Minera Escondida produced more than 1.5 million tons of copper worth more than $20 billion. Construction of the quarry began after studies showed a high probability of the existence of a copper belt in the region, just 300 km from the Chuquicamato quarry.

Berkeley Pete

Owner: Atlantic Richfield Company
Resources: copper, silver, gold
Location: Montana, USA
Development started in 1955

The development of the mine was stopped 30 years ago. Since then, without water pumps to keep the quarry open, the 540-meter pit has filled with rainwater. Despite the fact that the water appears crystal clear from above, in fact it contains a real soup of heavy metals and dangerous chemical elements - such as arsenic, sulfuric acid and cadmium. In fact, the water in the quarry is so rich in minerals that Montana Resources extracts 180 thousand tons of copper per month pumping water into the surrounding ponds.

The mine opened in 1955, production was in the region of 1 billion tons of resource and subsequently grew so much that the owner of the Anaconda deposit bought a neighboring city to continue expansion.

Yuba Goldfields

Owner: Western Aggregate
Resources: Aggregated
Location: California, USA.
Development started in 1848

Yuba Goldfrieds is located along the Yuba River in California. The deposit was established during the gold rush of 1848-55. Being located in the river bed, the mine was in its infancy, but as soon as word spread about the prospects of the region, large mining companies began to actively invest in projects in the region. To minimize production, companies began opening mines using the pressure of water jets in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Soon, so much waste and debris was dumped into the river that the river bed rose 100 feet and in some areas destroyed and flooded communities in the river area.

The area has now exhausted its gold reserves and although it is still used for the extraction of concrete components, there are plans to turn it into a nature reserve. Yuba Goldfrieds are known for their unusual appearance, when looking at aerial photography you can see how mountains, streams, and pits created under the influence of many years of mining - like a gut, stretch along the riverbed.

Diamond pipe “Udachnaya”

Owner: ALROSA
Resources: Diamonds
Location: Republic of Sakha, Russia
Development started in 1988

The depth of Udachnaya reaches more than 600 meters, although it is not as wide as Mir. Discovered a little later than Mir, Udachnaya is so remote from civilization that the project had its own small town built for the mine workers, named after the deposit. Since 2010, Alrosa has changed the type of mining at the mine to underground, since open-pit mining has become no longer profitable.

Olympic Dam

Owner: BHP Billiton
Resources: copper, gold, silver, uranium
Location: South Australia
Development started in 1988.

Although BHP Billiton's underground mine has plans to expand into the world's largest open pit mine, it already stretches a long way from what was once Roxby Downs Ships station. Imagine that this deposit contains tons of copper, uranium, gold and silver.

Olympic Dam has the world's fourth largest copper reserve and is the world's largest uranium deposit. Even without expanding the area of ​​the Olympic Dam quarry, it consumes 35 million liters of water daily.

Since ancient times, gold has been used for the production of jewelry and coinage. Currently, the role of the precious metal has changed somewhat: coins are no longer made from it, but are used as an investment object and one of the elements of gold and foreign exchange reserves. World reserves of the yellow metal are approximately 55 thousand tons, a significant share of which are gold deposits in Russia.

Gold mining in Russia and the world

Several countries have the largest reserves of the precious metal, including: South Africa, the USA, Canada, Australia, Indonesia and Russia. In the Russian Federation, reserves of the yellow metal are accounted for in 372 primary and 5,000 placer deposits. Every year, approximately 2.5 thousand tons of gold are mined in the world, the bulk of this volume comes from five countries - the USA, South Africa, Australia, Russia and China. Our country ranks 4th-5th in annual gold production with a value of 200 tons.

Gold production by country in tons.

The largest gold deposits in the world include:

• Pebble Deposit - USA, Alaska, no mining;
• Natalka - Russia, Kolyma, no mining;
• Grasberg - Indonesia, production in progress.

Among the top five largest fields there is another Russian one - Olimpiadinskoye (Olympiad), located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which has been developed since the early 80s of the 20th century.

All gold reserves in all of Russia are estimated at approximately 12.5 thousand tons of the precious metal, of which more than 60% are industrial reserves belonging to categories A, B and C1 - thoroughly explored, previously explored and reserves of explored deposits of complex geological structure.

In order to imagine how gold deposits are located throughout the territory of our country, we need a map with gold mining areas marked. These areas include:

• Eastern Siberia - Yenisei, Bodaibinsky, Prilensky and East Transbaikal regions;
• Yakutia - Aldan and Verkhoyansk regions;
• Regions of North-East Russia;
• Amur region;
• Territories of Primorsky Krai.

The bulk of Russian gold deposits are located in Siberia and the Far East.

Types of gold deposits

Gold is widely distributed in the surrounding world; the metal is present as a chemical element even in the human body. But in terms of content in the earth’s crust, the precious metal is only in 61st place: its share by mass is less than 0.000001%, the reason for this is its dispersed state in nature.

The largest gold deposits found in the world are places where the yellow metal is found in high concentrations. In these deposits, geological exploration work first takes place, followed by the construction of a mine and the industrial development of existing reserves.

The entire mineral resource base of gold mining consists of direct gold deposits and complex deposits containing gold. Gold deposits are either primary or alluvial.

What is a bedrock deposit?

Primary deposits were formed in the earth's crust due to magmatic processes. In the magma of our planet, in contrast to its crust, the concentration of gold is much higher. For many centuries, as a result of volcanic activity, streams of hot magma burst onto the surface of the Earth. In terms of its content, magma is a melt of a wide variety of compounds. The melting points of these compounds are different, so when the magma cooled, the refractory substances crystallized first. Inside the already frozen mass, the circulation of more fusible elements continued. These processes in the area of ​​magma breakthrough to the surface contributed to the appearance of gold deposits here.

Particles of gold in a primary deposit.

The melt of fusible elements shot out through cracks in the solidified magma, forming veins within which hot solutions of gold-containing salts continued to circulate. When completely cooled, these salts were destroyed, and gold crystallized in its pure form in the resulting veins. During the release and solidification of magma, many chemical reactions took place; the course of this process could differ, as could the final composition of the compounds.

Primary gold deposits could be formed in different ways, but were always accompanied by magmatic processes. This explains the location of the primary deposits: they are always located in the mountains, where the rock was formed as a result of magmatic activity.

Gold in such deposits is very rare in its pure form; most often it contains other metals. The most common alloys are silver and copper. Sometimes there are gold deposits containing platinum and other elements of this group.

Features of placer deposits

Placer deposits are called secondary, the reason for this is the peculiarities of the process of their formation. Placer gold deposits are formed from primary deposits as a result of ongoing physical and chemical impacts. The action of winds, temperature changes, precipitation, the movement of groundwater, the vital activity of microorganisms and plants over a long period of time gradually leads to the destruction of rock. The collapsing rock releases the gold contained in it: the precious metal begins to descend from the mountains into the valley, where a placer-type deposit is formed.

The main factors for the formation of placers are:

1. The action of water - it is precipitation and the influence of groundwater that contributes to the destruction of the mountain range and
2. Descent of gold-bearing rock down;
3. Chemical properties of gold - the metal does not react with water, therefore remains in its original form without changes;
4. Physical properties of gold - due to its density, the metal accumulated in those places from where lighter elements were washed out by water.

Alluvial gold deposits are different: they differ in size, territory and method of formation. Changes in the earth's surface occurred over millions of years; often, instead of a primary deposit, a placer deposit could form, and at a very great distance from the initial point of magma release.

Gold in placers is more accessible; in primary deposits it must be extracted from ore. Features of the location of precious metal particles can be clearly seen in the photo of rock fragments from both types of deposits.

Known Russian deposits

The most famous deposits in our country are of the indigenous type, most of them have been developed since Soviet times.

Sukhoi Log

Sukhoi Log is a Russian gold deposit located in Eastern Siberia, namely in the territory belonging to the Bodaibo gold-bearing region. Sukhoi Log was discovered in 1961, and today is still one of the largest deposits of the yellow metal in Russia. Large reserves of gold in these places are compensated by its low content in the ore.

After the discovery of the deposit in these places in the 70s, exploration work and technological research were carried out, the purpose of which was measures to enrich the ore. A set of preparatory work was carried out in the next decade. In the 80s, a power line was built here, a year-round road between neighboring settlements, the airport in the nearby town of Bodaibo was reconstructed, and construction of a hydroelectric power station began.

The ores of this gold deposit are of the gold-sulfide-quartz type, the main part of the metal is associated with pyrite. The precious metal content ranges from 0.5 to 10 g/t, the average is 2.7 g/t. Nearby, five more medium-sized deposits with low levels of element content in the ore have been identified. Three fields are already being developed, the rest are still being developed.

Berezovskoe

The Berezovskoye deposit is a unique gold mining site in our country. Its uniqueness is due to the fact that it was discovered back in the 18th century. The discovery is associated with the peasant Erofei Markov. Development at the Berezovskoye field has been ongoing since 1748 and has not stopped to this day.

Nugget from the Berezovsky deposit.

Most of the gold here is small and dusty. Berezovsky is characterized by an uneven distribution of the precious metal: inclusions in sulfides are thin and dispersed in nature. Sometimes the metal is presented in large accumulations in the upper horizons, and even more rarely - in the form of small nuggets.

Since the beginning of work in the 18th century, more than 140 tons of precious metal have been mined here.

The duration of industrial exploitation of the deposit allows us to say that this place has no analogues either in Russia or in the world. Balance reserves of categories C1 and C2 amount to about 90 tons of gold.

Vorontsovskoe

Vorontsovskoye is a famous gold deposit in the Sverdlovsk region. Exploration work here began in the mid-80s of the last century. The development of the gold deposit has been ongoing since the end of 2000. Gold mineralization is represented by two natural types: oxidized ores (loose) and primary gold-sulfide ores.

Vorontsovskoe gold deposit quarry.

The Vorontsovskoe deposit is dominated by free, thin gold in the form of intergrowths with the main minerals of the rock. The size of gold particles varies in the range from the smallest particles to 0.5 mm.

Ore processing is carried out in two ways: oxidized ores are processed by heap leaching, primary ore is processed by the “coal in pulp” method at a metal recovery plant near the deposit.

The Vorontsovskoye field is the first in Russia where heap leaching technology was tested in winter. The positive results of the work carried out made it possible to mine the precious metal all year round, regardless of seasonal conditions.

Of course, every person has seen real careers at least in photographs. They represent impressive depressions where work is or has been carried out to extract various minerals. Not all people understand what a quarry is. For many, these are just huge holes, and nothing more. However, in fact, quarries play a huge role for the industry of many countries around the world. In this material we will talk about the ten largest quarries on the planet.

First place - Chuquicamata (Chile)

A huge Chilean quarry is used to extract copper ore. Over the years of its operation, more than thirty million tons of copper have been mined. Work has been going on there for hundreds of years. Despite this, even today Chuquicamata remains the largest source of copper on the planet. This is the deepest quarry of its kind. Its length is about four kilometers and its width is about three kilometers. It is 850 meters deep. It is not known for certain when the first work was carried out in this area. At the end of the nineteenth century, explorers found an abandoned ancient mine and human remains dating back to the 6th century AD. However, massive work began only at the beginning of the twentieth century and continues to this day.

Second place - Escondida (Chile)

Second place in this ranking is occupied by another Chilean field. As with Chuquicamata, this quarry is famous for its copper deposits. Major ore mining operations began here in 1990, and mining rates have been growing rapidly since then. In 2014 alone, about 1.5 million tons of copper were mined here, the value of which is estimated at ten billion US dollars.

This quarry is one of the main sources of money for the Chilean budget. In addition, about three thousand people work in the field, and the number of jobs is only growing.

In 2006, large strikes and rallies began in the quarry due to massive non-payment of wages. Quarry workers blocked the roads leading to the mine. In the end, their demands were heard and all the money was paid. Today such problems are not observed, despite the fact that a certain negative reputation has nevertheless developed.

Third place - Udachnoe (Russian Federation)

Russia is also famous for its natural resource reserves. The number of quarries here is also very large. The largest of them in Russia is the Udachnoe deposit. In this quarry, diamond ore is mined using open and underground methods. Udachnoye is located beyond the Arctic Circle, which greatly complicates the mining process. Nevertheless, the use of the latest technologies and equipment allows Russian companies to extract the necessary minerals. Today, open-pit diamond mining is gradually being phased out. It was originally planned to complete it completely by the end of 2015, but work is still ongoing. At the same time, the volume of work on underground mining of valuable resources is increasing. According to the published plans, over the next decades more than one hundred million carats will be extracted from the subsoil. No other canyon in the world can compete with Udachny in this regard.

Fourth place - Bingham Canyon (United States of America)

The largest canyon in the United States is Bingham Canyon, which also ranks fourth in the world. It is located in the state of Utah, south of Salt Lake City. It is four kilometers wide and 1.2 kilometers deep. Work began here back in 1848. The main resource of the canyon is copper ore. However, in addition to copper, silver ore, molybdenum and even gold are mined in Bingham Canyon. Despite the fact that work at the site has been going on for more than a hundred years, its volumes are not decreasing, but, on the contrary, are growing over the years. Mining is carried out both open-pit and underground.

Fifth place - Mir (Russian Federation)

In addition to Udachny, the Russian Federation has another large diamond mine. The Mir mine is located in Eastern Siberia. As of today, work there has completely stopped. Nevertheless, it has a fifty-year history behind it. Mining first began in 1957. It is noteworthy that the quarry was dug without the use of explosives. This is the deepest quarry of its type in the world. The diameter of "Mir" is 1200 meters, and its depth is just over 500 meters.

Sixth place - Kalgouri (Australia)

The Australian continent is also famous for its large number of canyons. The largest of them is Kalugri. It is located near the city of the same name. Gold ore is mined at this site. The length of Kalguri is 3800 meters, width - 1500 meters. The depth of the canyon is 600 meters. Work in Kalgoori has been going on for several decades. Over the years, hundreds of millions of tons of gold have been mined.

Seventh place - Kimberley (South Africa)

This facility is located in the south of the African continent in South Africa. The work in the canyon was carried out by the famous DeBeers company. It is noteworthy that Kimberley is the largest quarry created without the use of specialized equipment. In other words, work in Kimberley was done by hand. The length of the quarry is 1600 meters. Its depth is two hundred meters. The facility was closed in 1920. Today it is of interest to tourists who visit it with special interest. Until 1920, diamonds were mined here. The work was carried out over a hundred years.

Eighth place - Diavik (Canada)

This quarry is famous in the world not only for its size, but also for its beauty. Truly one of the most unique quarries on the planet. It is located on an island in the north-west of the country. The views of the snow-covered quarry island are mesmerizing. Work on the site began only in 2003. This is the youngest large quarry in the world. Diamonds are mined in Diavik, which are then sold to various companies in the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Ninth place - Mahoning Mine (United States of America)

Another US representative in this ranking. The quarry is located in northern Minnesota. The Mahoning Mine is notable, in addition to its size, primarily because work in it was initially carried out only using the underground method. After some time, open-pit mining began. In other quarries, as a rule, everything happens the other way around, and open-pit mining precedes underground mining.

Mahoning Mine is also called the "Great Canyon of the North" due to its size and geographic location. The length of the quarry is almost eight kilometers. Its width is 3200 meters and its depth is 180 meters.

The first work on this site began in 1985. Since then, eight hundred million tons of iron have been mined. To accomplish this, about one and a half billion tons of earth were excavated, which occupied an area of ​​8,000,000 square meters.

Tenth place - Grasberg

The Grasberg quarry is located in Indonesia. This is the largest facility of its kind in Southeast Asia. Large-scale diamond mining has been going on here for half a century. The quarry provides this resource to many enterprises in its region and beyond.

Today, mining in Grasberg is carried out by the American company McMoRan, which owns the majority of shares in a joint venture with the Indonesian government. In 2006 alone, about 610 thousand tons of copper ore, sixty thousand kilograms of gold, and one hundred and fifty thousand kilograms of silver were mined.

Quarries play an important role in the industry of all countries of the world. They provide it with the most important resources. All of the sites on this list are the most important donors of copper, silver, gold ore, diamonds and other minerals.

The Top 10 gold deposits presented are based on 2014 production data, and only in some cases 2015, because this is the latest data set that is updated for the entire gold mining industry. Some of the companies on this list publish their production results annually. In our listing of companies in this industry, we consider any company with a complete production cycle to be a gold mining enterprise, even if it includes one or more open pits and underground mines.

At the moment, one of the gold mines produces twice as much as any other on the list - Muruntau. The Uzbek field is state owned. Data on gold reserves at Muruntau indicate that it is a remarkable source of gold for this country, as its reserves are 2.5 times greater than the preliminary reserve estimate of any other mine on the list.

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10

Boddington, Australia

The Boddington field is located in Western Australia near the city of Perth. Mining in Boddington is carried out by open-pit mining. In 2014, 700 thousand ounces of gold were mined here. There is believed to be another 20 million ounces in reserve.

Mining at the Boddington gold mine began in 1987 through the joint efforts of Normandy Mining (44.44%), Acacia Resource (33.33%) and Newcrest Mining (22.23%). Production ceased in 2001 when known reserves of oxide ore were exhausted. Newmont bought out Newcrest Mining in 2005 and Acacia Resource in 2009, allowing the company to take a majority stake in the Boddington gold mine. Mining resumed the following year, quickly elevating Boddington to the list of top gold mines.

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9

Veladero, Argentina

The Veladero mine is located in the San Juan province of Argentina, adjacent to the Pascua-Lama Project gold mine (which is also owned by Barrick Gold). The Veladero mine, according to researchers, has a reserve of 10 million ounces of gold. In 2014, 722 thousand ounces of gold were produced and an additional 622 thousand ounces were produced. With production increasing year after year, mining appears to be on the rise.

In 2007, Barrick Gold installed a wind turbine on Veladero, setting a world record for the world's tallest wind turbine at 1.28 km above sea level. The nearby Pascua-Lama Project mine covers a quarter of Argentina and three-quarters of Chile, where the mining industry has been criticized. The mines are located next to glaciers, and Chilean activists complain about the negative impact of mining on the environment.

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8

Olimpiada is the largest deposit owned by Polyus Gold, the largest gold mining corporation in Russia. The deposit is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Olimpiada resources are estimated at 47.37 million ounces with a reserve of 30.01 million ounces of gold. In 2014, 727 thousand ounces of gold were mined at the Olympics. In order to process sulfide ores, Olympiada uses its own bio-oxidation technology - BioNord.

Polyus Gold is the 8th largest gold producer in the world. It is believed that 90 million ounces of proven gold are located at 5 gold mining operations in Siberia and the Russian Far East. Polyus Gold is the largest gold mining corporation listed on the London Stock Exchange (PGIL).

The owner of Polyus Gold is Suleiman Kerimov, a mysterious investor who has not given any interviews for more than 20 years. Mr Kerimov made his fortune working in the Russian oil industry, but since 2005, when he bought Polymetal, he has delved deeper into the gold and silver mining industries. The company's headquarters is located in Moscow.

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7

Cortez, USA

In recent years, production at the Cortez deposit has decreased by 48%, due to a gradual transition to underground mining.

The Cortez gold mine is located in Nevada. The open pit and underground mining complex is located approximately 70 miles southwest of Elko. The entire complex includes the underground Cortez Hills mine as well as two open pit mines. Cortez is owned by Barrick Gold, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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6

Goldstrike, USA

Goldstrike and Cortez actually tied for 6th place in terms of production in 2014. Since production is decreasing at Cortez, it is reasonable to assume that Goldstrike produced more in 2015. The Goldstrike Mine is located northwest of the Carlin Mine off the Carlin Trend.

Goldstrike is also owned by Barrick Gold, which acquired the mine in 1987. Previously, the mine was owned by Western State Minerals Corporation and PanCana, which operated it as a joint venture since 1978.

The mine consists of three deposits. One of them is the Betze-Post open-pit mine. The remaining mines are Meikle and Rodeo, which are underground.

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5

Carlin Trend, USA

Carlin Trend in the USA is owned by Newmont. The deposit is located in Nevada and includes open pit and underground mining.

The Carlin Trend, an area 8 km wide and 84 km long, is part of a gold belt in the Carlin area of ​​Nevada. Gold was discovered in the area in the 1870s. Due to the harsh conditions of the region, virtually no mining took place until 1909. Even before 1964, they could barely produce about 22,000 ounces annually. From 1964 to 2008 Carlin Trend produced 70 million ounces of gold worth approximately $85 billion.

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4

Yanacocha is part of a large mining operation in the Cajamarca region of Peru. The Yanacocha deposit is located 28 km north of the city of Cajamarca and 770 km from Lima. This open-pit mine is considered the 4th largest in the world, although it has seen a decline in production. The mine produced 970 thousand ounces of gold in 2014, up from about 1 million ounces in 2013.

Yanacocha's majority shareholder is Newmont Mining Corporation (51%), the second largest gold mining company in the world, located in Colorado, USA. The Peruvian company Buenaventura owns a 44% stake in the mine, with the World Bank owning the remaining 5%.

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3

Pueblo Viejo, Dominican Republic

The Pueblo Viejo field is only slightly behind the next number, Grasberg. In 2014, 1.108 million ounces of gold were produced here. Pueblo Viejo is a relatively new mine, jointly owned by Barrick (60%) and Goldcorp (40%). The mine, researchers believe, has significant reserves, so it will remain a vital source of gold for our planet for several decades to come.

Pueblo Viejo is a small city on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, located approximately 60 miles from Santo Domingo. The state corporation Rosario Dominicana first began mining gold here in 1975, producing 5 million ounces of silver and gold over the next 16 years. When the price of metals dropped significantly in 1991, the mine was closed.

In 2001, Canadian company Placer Dome won a contract to operate the mine for 33 years. Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold mining company, purchased Placer Dome in 2006 and resumed gold mining in 2009.

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2

Grasberg, Indonesia

Grasberg in Indonesia has long been the world's leading gold mine. It is still touted as the largest mine in the world, and the third largest copper mine. Currently, Grasberg is an open pit, but by the end of 2017, production will move to the underground part of the deposit. In 2014, Grasberg produced 1.1 million ounces of gold.

The owner of the field is Freeport-McMoRan, which owns 90.64% of the shares. The company has 19,500 employees. The Indonesian government owns the remaining 9.36% of the mine. Grasberg is located near Mount Jaya in Indonesian New Guinea. Jaya is the highest mountain in Papua, and therefore extraction of rocks is a particularly labor-intensive process here.

The deposit was discovered in 1936 by Dutch geologist Jean-Jacques Dozy, although it was not developed until 1960, when George Mealey (CEO of Freeport-McMoRan) and Forbes Wilson sent a special expedition to prove the value of the deposit. When Indonesia gained independence in 1963, Grasberg became the first mine opened by the Suharto government.

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1

Muruntau, Uzbekistan

In recent years, Muruntau in Uzbekistan ranks 1st in terms of production volume, overtaking Grasberg. In 2013 and 2014, the competition between them was not even close. Muruntau produced 2.52 million ounces of gold in 2013 and 2.6 million in 2014. This is a huge open pit, according to scientists, there are still about 170 million ounces of gold reserves here, so at the current level of production, the mine could be a leader within the next 60 years.

Muruntau belongs to the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine, which belongs to the state of Uzbekistan. The plant was founded in 1964 as part of the gold mining enterprises of the Soviet Union. The world's largest BIOX plant was commissioned here to combat the depletion of oxide ore reserves.

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Conclusion

This was an article on the TOP 10 deposits where 90% of the world’s gold is mined. Thank you for your attention!