Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.
Most of the mines which people submit are in low-res, but here’s one which isn’t. This is an abandoned open pit copper mine in Casa Grande, Arizona. Can’t imagine why they abandoned it… I mean, that hole isn’t nearly big enough yet!
It really is huge, – I can’t fit it all on my screen at maximum zoom!
Thanks: Papapenguin, Eric Veilleux, Josh
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This is the Sacaton mine on the Gila River Indian Reservation. It was in operation from 1974 to 1984. I think they still conduct tours.
Holy moly!
Like most copper mines in AZ, it was abandoned when the bottom fell out of the copper market in the early 80’s.
There’s still plenty there, it’s just too expensive to get it out of the ground to be worth the effort.
At least Phelps Dodge, the mining corp that owned most of the operations, was nice enough to leave the highly toxic byproducts of the mining/smelting process just lying around to seep into the groundwater, kind of as a reminder of what once was I guess.
Otter
Wow, that thing is huge. Just keep zooming out until you can’t see it, and look how much of Arizona you do so then.
Check out this copper mine near Salt Lake City: [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.530241,-112.142258&spn=0.178239,0.303326&t=k&hl=en](http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.530241,-112.142258&spn=0.178239,0.303326&t=k&hl=en)
Here’s another one just south of Tucson, AZ.
I think this one is shut down, too.
Not as cool looking as the Casa Grande one, but it’s a bit bigger:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Check this out (in low resolution
): Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
This is diamond mine “Mir” (Peaceful in russian) in Yakutia. It was open in 1955. Lot of photos here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/vad/213692.html
It’s the Sarlacc pit!
(hi-res) Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
This used to be a huge open pit copper mine until it was closed down and flooded with ocean water in 1996. It looks at least 5 times bigger than the Casa Grande Copper Mine. The copper makes this 400m deep lake a bit lighter than the ocean. Without the water, it had the same spiral road around the edge to the bottom. My dad used to work here so I saw it before and during the flooding.
Found some history about it at http://www.scarp.ubc.ca/thesis/britton/ch3b.html and http://www.trcr.bc.ca/docs/1999-wilton-lawrence.pdf
Hey, great find for that Island Copper mine, James! I didn’t realize that that is where it was. Lucky it was hi-res as well.
More info on the Sacaton mine…
The abandoned Sacaton mine site, near Casa Grande, was being used at the same time for the filming of the excellent Gulf War thriller THREE KINGS, starring George Clooney, Ice Cube, and Mark Wahlberg as three U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The enormous mine tailings pile offered filmmaker David O. Russell the only location in North America that evoked the flat and extremely dusty environment of southern Iraq. The desert fortress movie set still stands on the mine tailings management area, complete with a huge portrait of Saddam Hussein.
more - http://www.miningimpacts.net/ds/dssum00toc.html
See - “Moratorium example sickens actors and crew” - 3/4 page down
This is a video flying over the Copper mine with several powered paragliders. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6On1Br-Jdbg
I saw this mine on a flight from LA to Houston. From the air it looked perfectly round with perpendicular walls like it had been cut into the rock by a huge drill. Very impressive. It took me a while to google it out on the internet. If I’m ever in that area I’m going to drive out and get a look over the edge !! Very cool.