strip mining

American  

noun

1. mining in an open pit after removal of the overburden.

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strip mining British  

noun

1. another term (esp US) for opencast mining

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strip mining Cultural  

1. Removing a mineral deposit from the Earth after first removing the layer of earth above it.

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Strip mining, the cheapest method of mining, is also the most controversial, because it jeopardizes the environment, and because strip-mined land is either expensive or impossible to reclaim.

Example Sentences

“There’s already overwhelming evidence that strip mining deep-sea nodule fields will destroy ecosystems we barely understand,” he told BBC News.

From BBC • Jul. 22, 2024

Studies suggest that strip mining affects the local mountain hydrology in many places.

From Scientific American • Aug. 3, 2022

A few months after the first Earth Day in 1970, the New York Times editorial board called on the federal government to "outlaw" the radical practice of strip mining.

From Salon • Apr. 22, 2020

For 25 years, he oversaw the process that may represent humans’ best attempt to date at total annihilation of land: strip mining and mountaintop-removal mining of coal.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 17, 2020

All the other visible hills, including those facing me across the narrow valley, looked to be in good health, except where they had been scarred and gouged by quarrying or strip mining, which was regularly.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson