Open Pit Mining

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-019634",
  "term": "Open Pit Mining",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "A form of operation designed to extract minerals that lie near the surface. Waste, or overburden, is first removed, and the mineral is broken and loaded, as in a stone quarry. Important chiefly in the mining of ores of iron and copper. The mining of metalliferous ores by surface-mining methods is commonly designated as \"open-pit mining\" as distinguished from the \"strip mining\" of coal and the \"quarrying\" of other nonmetallic materials such as limestone, building stone, etc.",
  "references": [
    "Coal Excise Tax - Appendix I, Glossary of Mining Terms at IRS.gov"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/open-pit-mining/"
}