open-cut

American  

[oh-puhn-kuht] / ˈoʊ pənˌkʌt /

adjective

Mining.

1. noting or pertaining to a type of surface mining in which coal and other flat-lying mineral deposits are removed by the excavation of long, narrow trenches.

---

open cut British  

noun

1. civil engineering an excavation made in the open rather than in a tunnel See cut-and-cover

---

Etymology

Origin of open-cut

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

His firm, Central Queensland Coal, had proposed to build an open-cut mine about 700km north-west of Brisbane, that would produce both thermal and coking coal and operate for about 20 years.

From BBC • Feb. 8, 2023

The couple lives in the village of Bulga, 14 miles from Singleton on the other side of the Mount Thorley Warkworth open-cut mine.

From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2021

A road leads to an open-cut mine in the area known as the Pilbara region located in the north-west of Western Australia, September 5, 2016.

From Reuters • Aug. 13, 2021

Ore mined by an open-cut method was first shipped in 1925, and in the late 1930s mine owner Universal Insulation Co. merged with Zonolite co. and the mine adopted the Zonolite name.

From Washington Times • Dec. 1, 2019

A 15-ton Bay City locomotive crane was also used along part of the open-cut work on 32d Street.

From Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Cross-Town Tunnels. Paper No. 1158 by Brace, James H.