open-pit

American  

[oh-puhn-pit] / ˈoʊ pənˌpɪt /

adjective

Mining.

1. noting or pertaining to a type of surface mining in which massive, usually metallic mineral deposits are removed by cutting benches in the walls of a broad, deep funnel-shaped excavation.

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Etymology

Origin of open-pit

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

open-pit

In 2023, a collapse at an open-pit coal mine in the northern Inner Mongolia region killed 53 people.

From BBC ● May 23, 2026

Construction of the mammoth open-pit mine, slated to begin production in 2030, has taken the 27-year-old technician away from her seven-year-old son, who lives down the mountain in her hometown of Villa Calingasta.

From Barron's ● May 23, 2026

Bob Dylan wrote several songs about his hometown of Hibbing, Minn., which was moved from 1919 to 1921 to accommodate the Hull-Rust-Mahoning open-pit iron mine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025

Soon, I saw what has drawn so many to Clifton over the last 150 years: one of the world’s largest open-pit copper mines.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024

Rock and dirt slides of all kinds, met with in open-pit mining, canals, and other excavations, present engineering problems with a geologic basis.

From The Economic Aspect of Geology by Leith, C. K. (Charles Kenneth)