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

OceanaGold produced 103,500 troy ounces of gold in the third quarter, down from 134,900 a year earlier at 119,500 the prior quarter as open-pit mining at the Haile gold mine in South Carolina focused on waste -tripping activities and the operation relied more on lower grade stockpiles.

From The Wall Street Journal

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

The mine in which the three are trapped is an open-pit copper and gold mine, which was constructed in 2014.

From BBC

Protections like these could protect ecosystems in the examined cases of the tribunal, including in Brazil where a firm called Belo Sun has proposed the development of the country’s largest open-pit gold mine, and in regions affected by copper, silver, and other metals mining throughout Ecuador.

From Salon

The victims had climbed into open-pit areas left by industrial miners to look for scraps of gold when the earth around them caved in, a gold miner's union leader told Reuters.

From BBC