Mine Image Gallery
Mines are simply excavations into the rock below us. We also excavate to build cities which take up vastly more surface area. But many seem convinced that open pit mines are ugly blots on the landscape. Could this just be conditioning? There is symmetry in the benches of a mine not unlike that of terraced agriculture in mountainous regions - also man made but thought by many to be beautiful. Many structures exist in the natural world that have similar shape scale and impact on the landscape - sinkholes and volcanic craters for example. Why are these features not blots on the landscape? Humans evolved from nature. What we do is therefore natural - unless you refute evolution. The faces of a mine allow us to access earth history up close and connect with this big rock we call home. They are an temporary imprint on the earth that claims it as ours. Landscapes are changing in geological time and quickly too. The Himalayas are eroded at a pace of a kilometer ever million years. The landscapes we embrace human made or not are very temporary as far as our planet is concerned. Hopefully these images can be a portal to appreciating mines as human structures that are as natural as anthills. They are no different than skyscrapers or other architectural delights more commonly associated with wonder (and requiring metal...).
