open-pit

adjective

US
: involving the removal of the surface of a large area of land to get at a mineral or other material that is near to the surface
an open-pit mine

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Chuquicamata, the world’s largest open-pit copper mine, a hole big enough to swallow Central Park, is nine miles north of the city. Maggie Shipstead Anthony Cotsifas, New York Times, 10 May 2023 Opponents say the plans for a large open-pit mine will destroy fisheries worth about $2 billion annually. Alex Demarban, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Apr. 2023 Environmentalists were angered when Zambian authorities supported a huge open-pit mine for copper in Lower Zambezi National Park last year. Nimi Princewill, CNN, 26 Apr. 2023 As proposed, the open-pit mine would be one of the world’s largest. Alex Demarban, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Apr. 2023 That last deployment—a six-month rotation in 2020—sent him to the outskirts of a small city in Niger where an American military installation sat just a few hundred yards downwind from the largest open-pit uranium mine in the world. Michael Venutolo-mantovani, The New Republic, 21 Mar. 2023 Rare earth minerals are extracted through one of two methods: Drilling or open-pit mining. Travis Hall, Field & Stream, 13 Mar. 2023 The open-pit mine was set to be located about 6 miles from the Great Barrier Reef. Nick Roll, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Mar. 2023 Associated Press ALXA LEAGUE, China – Work crews trying to find 47 people missing after a collapse at an open-pit mine in northern China have had to change their excavation methods to avoid causing more landslides, state media reported Friday. Ng Han Guan, USA TODAY, 25 Feb. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'open-pit.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near open-pit

Cite this Entry

“Open-pit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/open-pit. Accessed 28 May. 2023.

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