Super Pit or officially named as Fimiston Open Pit is a large open cut gold mine owned by Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) Pty Ltd, located off the Goldfields Highway on the south-east edge of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The pit which has approx. 3.5 km long, 1.5 km wide, and over 600 m deep was eventually created in 1989.
Actually, the mine site was born in the 1880s when people all came to test their luck. In the 1960s, the population has grown up to more than 200,000 people who were mostly gold seekers. This region was then given the nickname as “Wild West” because of the harsh life of the time.
After knowing the brief history, here are 5 facts about the amazing mine:
- In 2018, the giant pit produced about 628,000 troy ounces of gold
- Super Pit was the largest open cut gold mine before The Newmont Boddington gold mine opened.
- The pit is made up around 260 individual mining leases and covers 26,000 hectares of leases.
- Trucks at the mine work every single day for 24 hours and each will use about $8 mio of fuel and $3 mio worth of tires!
- There are 3 to 4 times of mine blast a week between 7 am and 6 pm.
Now, the Super Pit is turning 30 this year. It’s projected that the mine life ends this year and estimate processed the stockpiles of low-grade ore until 2029.
Even if the mine life nearly meets its end, the Super Pit has become a favorite destination which is targeted by many tourists from various countries every year.
