Open-pit mining, also known as opencast mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts minerals from an open pit in the ground. Open-pit mining is the most common method used throughout the world for mineral mining and does not require extractive methods or tunnels.

What type of mining is open-pit mining?

Open-pit mining, or open-cast mining is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow. This form of mining differs from extractive methods that require tunneling into the earth, such as long wall mining.

What is the difference between open-pit mining and subsurface mining?

Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which the overlying rock is left in place, and the mineral is removed through ...