Officially known as the Fimiston open pit mine, the Super Pit gold mine in Western Australia is the country's largest mine in terms of scale, covering 3.5km by 1.5km on the surface, and currently undergoing expansion work to extend to a depth of 700m.
Particularly significant areas today include the Goldfields, Peel and Pilbara regions of Western Australia, the Hunter Region in New South Wales, the Bowen Basin in Queensland and Latrobe Valley in Victoria and various parts of the outback.
The five largest coal mines, i.e., Loy Yang Mine, Goonyella Riverside Mine, Moolarben Mine, Mount Arthur Coal Mine, and Yallourn Mine, cumulatively produced approximately 87.1 million tonnes of coal, 102.57 mmtpa of ROM in 2021.
The Super Pit One of Australia's largest open pit gold mines. Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) Operation is a world class asset located adjacent to the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder approximately 600 kilometres east of Perth, Western Australia.
My journey deep inside a mine began in my home base of Perth. The destination: Mount Isa, the deepest mine in Australia, 5,187 kilometers (3,223 miles) away.
Balmain Colliery was a coal mine located in Birchgrove in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It produced coal from 1897 until 1931 and natural gas from 1937 to 1950. At approximately 800 metres (2,600 ft) in depth, it remains the deepest coal mine ever to have been sunk in Australia.
Scientists estimate that Australia's BurningMountain, the oldest known coal fire, has burned for 6,000 years.
1. North Antelope Rochelle, US – 1.7 billion tonnes. The largest coal mine in the world by reserves is the North Antelope Rochelle coal mine in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming, US.
Boddington gold mine
The project also produces 80 million pounds of copper per year, making the mine one of the most productive in Australia.
Australia is estimated to have the world's largest gold reserves, with 9,500 tonnes or 17 per cent of the total world estimated gold reserves of 57,000 tonnes.
About 60% of Australia's gold resources occur in Western Australia, with the remainder in all other States and the Northern Territory. Virtually all resources occur in primary deposits, many of which have undergone some degree of weathering.
Considered by most authorities to be the biggest gold nugget ever found, the Welcome Stranger was found at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates. It weighed gross, over 2,520 troy ounces (78 kg; 173 lb) and returned over 2,284 troy ounces (71.0 kg; 156.6 lb) net.
Located in the Sudirman Mountains of the Irian Jaya province of Indonesia, the Grasberg complex is one of the largest gold and copper mining operations in the world.
Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine is the largest artificially made excavation in the world, and is visible to the naked eye from an orbiting space shuttle. Employing some 2,000 workers, 450,000 short tons (400,000 long tons; 410,000 t) of material are removed from the mine daily.
Anthracite coal is the hottest burning fuel in comparison to the most common ones in use. Environmentally cleaner than other fossil fuels.
Dhanbad – One of the oldest in Jharkhand and the richest coalfields of India.
A coal seam-fueled eternal flame in Australia known as "Burning Mountain" is claimed to be the world's longest burning fire, at 6,000 years old. A coal mine fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania, has been burning beneath the borough since 1962.
Australia's principal black coal producing basins are the Bowen Basin (Queensland) and Sydney Basin (New South Wales). Locally important black coal mining operations also include Collie in Western Australia, and Fingal and Kimbolton in Tasmania.
Outside of oil, however, the energy mix varies between states and territories due to factors such as electricity generation source and industrial activities. NSW's energy mix contains the largest share of coal, 41%, due to the high percentage of electricity generation from coal.
The Lynas Mt Weld mine in Western Australia is acknowledged as one of the world's premier rare earths deposits.
The average mining salary in Australia is $113,837 per year or $58.38 per hour. Entry-level positions start at $94,575 per year, while most experienced workers make up to $167,500 per year.
The world's deepest mine is in South Africa – the Mponeng gold mine in Gauteng province, which goes down 3.9km to the centre of the earth. Huge investment goes into developing the facilities and technology for extracting and processing these commodities.
Australia produces 19 useful minerals in significant amounts, from over 350 operating mines.