When I'm bored I sometimes use the local channels' weather radar to wander the globe. While checking out Australia I zoomed in on this city ... Kalgoorlie.
Now being from the midwest (USA) I've seen some deep holes (iron mines) but the one @Kalgoorlie looks pretty deep. Got to ask anybody that lives around there ... how deep is that?
Now being from the midwest (USA) I've seen some deep holes (iron mines) but the one @Kalgoorlie looks pretty deep. Got to ask anybody that lives around there ... how deep is that?
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Some of those open cast mines may be a bit deeper with 500m but otherwise tiny compared to the Hambach open cast coal mine for example.
It is 400m deep but the hole currently covers 44km^2 and will be extended to 85km^2
(17 and 33 square miles respectively).
It is 400m deep but the hole currently covers 44km^2 and will be extended to 85km^2
(17 and 33 square miles respectively).
The way things are going, I see an increase in underground dwellings due to heat - they also do that in North Africa to escape the heat.
Those dugouts of which you speak are nowadays known as earth shelters.
The way things are going climate wise, I think I'll get the spade out!
Earth shelter - Wikipedia
The way things are going climate wise, I think I'll get the spade out!
Earth shelter - Wikipedia
Didn't realize just how many active gold mines were in Western Australia.
List of active gold mines in Western Australia - Wikipedia
List of active gold mines in Western Australia - Wikipedia
I went down a gold mine in South Africa to investigate some instrumentation problems in my younger days. 1st drop was down 5000 feet and the second another 2000 feet for a total depth of 7000 feet. A few of the mines over there are at over 10000 feet down.
I remember the rock walls being so hot you could not hold you hand on them for more than a few seconds. They pump ice down there by the ton to keep the place cool enough to work. The place I had to visit had this huge subterranean hallway where there were a whole lot of very large pumps that were using our monitoring gear.
At around about that time, in another mine near there, the cage (3 floors high with about 50 men in when full) jammed on the way down but the ropes continued to pile up on top. Eventually the weight caused it it un-jamb and it fell, the roof ripped off and the cage plummeted thousands of feet to the bottom of the shaft.
Not a trip I'd like to make again, but then, perhaps the good Lord has a different view on where I ultimately belong 😀
I remember the rock walls being so hot you could not hold you hand on them for more than a few seconds. They pump ice down there by the ton to keep the place cool enough to work. The place I had to visit had this huge subterranean hallway where there were a whole lot of very large pumps that were using our monitoring gear.
At around about that time, in another mine near there, the cage (3 floors high with about 50 men in when full) jammed on the way down but the ropes continued to pile up on top. Eventually the weight caused it it un-jamb and it fell, the roof ripped off and the cage plummeted thousands of feet to the bottom of the shaft.
Not a trip I'd like to make again, but then, perhaps the good Lord has a different view on where I ultimately belong 😀
Sorry, it appears google labelled the first picture wrong. It is actually Bagger 288.
It's about the same size as Bagger 293 though.
Difficult to get the full scale of the hole it and it's brothers are digging in one picture. You could go on google maps and search 'Hambach open mine' to get an idea.
It is just slightly north west of the karting track Kerpen where Michael Schumacher learned to drive quickly.
It's about the same size as Bagger 293 though.
Difficult to get the full scale of the hole it and it's brothers are digging in one picture. You could go on google maps and search 'Hambach open mine' to get an idea.
It is just slightly north west of the karting track Kerpen where Michael Schumacher learned to drive quickly.
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Oh, well, that's pretty all made big holes to bury nuclear wastes and harvest geothermal energy.
Edit: And dump as well, useless wind mills nobody knows how to recycle.
Edit: And dump as well, useless wind mills nobody knows how to recycle.
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In Germany the plan is to use the overburden from Hambach to fill the other open cast mines in the area.
The Hambach mine will be turned into Lake Hambach with water from 2 or 3 rivers creating Germany's deepest (400m) and second largest lake by volume behind Lake Constance. Filling it with water will take 60 years.
The Hambach mine will be turned into Lake Hambach with water from 2 or 3 rivers creating Germany's deepest (400m) and second largest lake by volume behind Lake Constance. Filling it with water will take 60 years.