The Superpit is an open cut gold mine on the south-east of Kalgoorlie. It is approximately 3.6 kilometres long, 1.6 kilometres wide and more than 600 metres deep. The first attempt at creating a Superpit was in the 1980s by businessman Alan Bond, who attempted to buy a number of contiguous mine leases in order to get the land area under one ownership. He failed to achieve his aim, however, the concept was realised by Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Pty Ltd in 1989.
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- Not only long but deep, too.
Occasionally the excavation reveals an old shaft containing abandoned equipment and vehicles from the earlier mines.
The mine operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and a visitor centre overlooks it. The mine blasts at 1:00 pm every day, unless winds would carry dust over the town.
Each of the massive Haulpak trucks carries 225 tonnes of rock and the round trip takes about 35 minutes, most of that time being the slow uphill haul. Employees must live in Kalgoorlie – it is not a fly-in fly-out operation. The mine is expected to be productive until about 2029.
© Kim Epton 2016-2024
219 words, one photograph.
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