The main target depth was set at 15,000 m (49,000 ft). World’s Deepest … The mine began operation in 1962. WWII-Era German Mine Detonated Off the Coast of Scotland 00:39. Previously known as Western Deep Levels #1 Shaft, the underground and surface works were commissioned in 1987. The TauTona mine exists within the West Witts area, near the town of Carletonville. Russia holds the record for the deepest man-made hole in the world at more than 40,000 feet deep. Meteorologist Ari Sarsalari breaks down our winter temperature outlook. At approximately 3.9 kilometers (2.4 mi) deep, it is home to the world's deepest mining operations, rivalled only by the Mponeng Gold Mine. [3], The lift cage that transports the workers from the surface to the bottom travels at 16 metres per second (36 mph / 58 km/h) so together with traveling on horizontal trolleys the journey to the rock face can take up to 1 hour from the surface level.[4]. A ground temperature of 93.9 °C (201 °F) was recorded in Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California, United States on 15 July 1972; this may be the highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded. Millan Ludena, an Ecuadorian marathon runner, became the first person to run a half-marathon fully underground in the deepest part of Mponeng Gold Mine. World’s Deepest Pool Like Diving in the Ocean 00:42. [5], "Ecuadorian sets record in run 4,000m below surface", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mponeng_Gold_Mine&oldid=982203583, Pages using infobox mine with unknown parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 6 October 2020, at 19:05. The mine has some 800 km (500 mi) of tunnels and employs around 5,600 miners. Listen to an exclusive audio version of this story by subscribing to Apple News+. Are you Officially Amazing? Production figures of the recent past were: Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. The operating depth at Mponeng mine ranged from between 2.4km to more than 3.9km below the surface by the end of 2012. World’s Deepest Pool Like Diving in the Ocean The depth of the mine is around 4 kilometers inside the earth. The mine contains at least two gold reefs, with the deepest one metre thick. By David Firestone. China Tests Engine that Can Go Anyplace on Earth in 2 Hours 00:34. The mine is a dangerous place to work, with an average of five miners dying in accidents each year. Do you want to set a world record? On 6 June 1979, the world depth record held by the Bertha Rogers hole in Washita County, Oklahoma, United States, at 9,583 m (31,440 ft) was broken. The TauTona Mine or Western Deep No.3 Shaft,[1] is a gold mine in South Africa. [1] Tunnel walls are secured by flexible shotcrete reinforced with steel fibers, which is further held in place by diamond-mesh netting. There was a pause, just before the cage doors came rattling closed and … Nation's Deepest Coal Mine Now Ranks Among Deadliest. [5] One fatality was recorded the next year.[6]. [1], Over 5400 metric tonnes of rock are excavated from Mponeng each day. Recently, there has been talk of closing down the TauTona Min… TauTona’s operational depth reaches up to 3.9 below the surface, and it has 800 km of tunnels and three shafts. Mponeng is a gold mine in South Africa's Gauteng province. Mponeng Gold Mine is located to the southwest of the city of Johannesburg in South Africa, and is presently one of the deepest mines in the world. It extends over 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) below the surface,[1] and is considered to be one of the most substantial gold mines in the world. AngloGold Ashantis Mponeng gold mine, located south-west of Johannesburg in South Africa, is currently the deepest mine in the world. The mine is one of the three Western Deep Levels mines of the West Wits gold field west of Johannesburg. This region is also the location of the harshest conditions for hard rock mining, with air temperatures of up to 45 °C (113 °F). The functioning depth of Mponeng mine is ranged from among 2.4 kilometers to a further extent of 3.9 kilometers … This made it the deepest mine in the world, surpassing the 3.5 km (2.2 mi) deep East Rand Mine by a considerable margin. March 1, 1983; ... To keep the working area at a temperature of 84 degrees, it is necessary to suck into the mine… To keep things cool, the mine uses a novel cooling system to manage temperatures. The name TauTona means "great lion" in the Setswana language. The lake’s Kyrgyz name, Ysyk-köl, means “Hot Lake,” as it never freezes, even though winter temperatures in the area regularly reach −15 °F (−26 °C). IN WORLD'S DEEPEST MINE, RESEARCHERS HEAR THE ROCKS 'TALK' By Joseph Lelyveld. The TauTona (‘great lion’ in Setswana) Gold Mine, located in the West Wits area of South Africa, is the second deepest pit in the world. This new shaft extended the depth from its previous 3.5 km (2.2 mi), with the intent of extending the mine's life to 2015. A rare look inside the deepest gold mine on the planet. A whole underground city — lightless and lawless — lives inside the mine. Kola Superdeep Borehole, commemorated on a 1987 USSR stamp. The mine is near the town of Carletonville. Ongoing expansions have resulted in deeper digging at Mponeng, pushing the record to beyond the four kilometre mark. [3] The trip from the surface to the bottom of the mine takes over an hour. It is one of the most efficient mines in South Africa and remains in continuous operation even during periods when the price of gold is low. The TauTona Mine or Western Deep No.3 Shaft, is a gold mine in South Africa. However, in 1992 they had to stop drilling because the temperature was around 180 … ... WWII-Era German Mine Detonated Off the Coast of Scotland 00:39. Temperatures at the bottom of Australia's deepest gold mine are close to 30 degrees Celsius and the humidity is like something out of the tropics with long shifts making it a tough slog for miners. However, massive refrigeration plants are used to bring the temperature down to around 28 °C (82 °F). Welcome to what some call the world's greatest gold rush. Soudan, Minnesota Ride the elevator cage almost a half-mile underground, then take the electric train another quarter-mile to the deepest part of this old iron mine -- known as "The Cadillac of Mines" before it closed in 1962. A new study found that in warmer temperatures, ... WWII-Era German Mine Detonated Off the Coast of Scotland 00:39. The mine has been featured on the MegaStructures television program produced by the National Geographic Channel. Rock walls in the Mponeng mine reach temperatures of 140°F (60°C) and humidity levels often exceed 95%. Seeds are growing, the squirrels still infested with rabies, and the mine is SOOO UNBELIEVABLY AMAZINGLY MASS- smaller than I expected. [1], The temperature of the rock reaches 66 °C (151 °F), and the mine pumps slurry ice underground to cool the tunnel air to below 30 °C (86 °F). The TauTona gold mine in South Africa was extended to a depth of 3.9km in 2008, making it the world’s deepest mine at that time. The deepest gold mine in the world is Mponeng, a 2.5-mile hole in the ground in South Africa. Physical conditions. World’s Deepest Pool Like Diving in the Ocean WWII-Era German Mine Detonated Off the Coast of Scotland Bicyclist Nearly Swallowed by Lakeshore Waves in Chicago Since the early 1960s, humans have attempted to drill down to the Earth's mantle. All three are owned by AngloGold Ashanti. The rock face temperature reaches 60 °C (140 °F). The Guinness World Records Official site with ultimate record-breaking facts & achievements. Analysing ten years of temperature recordings in the Argentine Basin from 2009 to 2019, researchers found all four sites warmed somewhere between 0.02 to 0.04 degrees Celsius, depending on the depth. The ownership of the Mponeng gold mine lies with the firm AngloGold Ashanti. [1] At a price of $19.4 per gram of gold, the mine only needs to extract 10 grams of gold per ton excavated to remain profitable. [1] A mixture of concrete, water, and rock is packed into excavated areas, which further acts as an insulator. Air-conditioning equipment is used to cool the mine from 55 °C (131 °F) down to a more tolerable 28 °C (82 °F). Danny Forster visited the mine for the fifth episode of Build It Bigger's eighth season. Lying at an elevation of 5,270 feet (1,606 meters) in the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan is Lake Ysyk, one of the world’s largest alpine lakes. It is also the world's deepest copper-zinc mine. http://www.infomine.com/index/properties/TAUTONA_(WESTERN_DEEP_NO.3_SHAFT).html, http://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/top-10-deepest-mines-on-the-planet, "TauTona, Anglo Gold - Mining Technology", http://chamberofmines.org.za/mine/down-the-mine-shaft, "AngloGold Ashanti website: South Africa country report 2008", African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TauTona_Mine&oldid=918692549, Non-renewable resource companies established in 1962, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from February 2018, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Pages using infobox mine with unknown parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 29 September 2019, at 22:20. World’s Deepest Pool Like Diving in the Ocean [1] The mine contains at least two gold reefs, with the deepest one metre thick. The deepest inactive hard rock mine in North America is the Empire mine … In the 2008 financial year, there were seven fatal accidents at AngloGold Ashanti's West Wits operations in which 14 miners died, four of those at the TauTona mine. The mine was built by the Anglo American Corporation and its 2 km (1.2 mi) deep main shaft was sunk in 1957. This list of deepest mines includes operational and non-operational mines that are at least 2,212 m (7,257 ft), which is the depth of Veryovkina Cave, the deepest known natural cave in the world. A Guinness World Records adjudicator was on hand to document the race and issued the certificate for the deepest half-marathon. The World Meteorological Organization uncovered a temperature recording of minus 93.3 degrees ... WWII-Era German Mine Detonated Off the Coast of Scotland 00:39. TauTona neighbours the Mponeng and Savuka mines, and TauTona and Savuka share processing facilities. Advertisement Over 6,000 tonnes of ice slurry are pumped into underground reservoirs, and giant fans help to spread the air flow. Deepest mine below sea level The Kidd Mine in Ontario, Canada is 2,733 m (8,967 ft) below sea level—the deepest accessible non-marine point on earth. By 2008, the mine reached 3.9 km (2.4 mi) underground. The temperature of the rock reaches 66 °C (151 °F), and the mine pumps slurry ice underground to cool the tunnel air to below 30 °C (86 °F). The mine is so deep that temperatures in the mine can rise to life-threatening levels. Sept. 26, 2001; ... ''I mean, it's not the only dangerous job in the world. The depth measurements in this list represent the difference in elevation from the entrance of the mine to the deepest excavated point. At approximately 3.9 kilometers (2.4 mi) deep, it is home to the world's deepest mining operations, rivalled only by the Mponeng Gold Mine.[2]. Currently now underground mining operation constitute the deepest mine in the world, with an average depth of between 2.5 km into the subsurface. The name TauTona means ‘great lion’ in Setswana. [1], In 2008, researchers looking for extremophile organisms discovered the bacterium Desulforudis audaxviator present within groundwater samples from kilometers deep in the mine.[4]. Since its construction, two secondary shafts have been added bringing the mine to its current depth. Over two decades, they managed to dig more than 7.5 miles down into the Earth. Deepest Place You Can Go In America. [2] It is also currently the world's deepest mine from ground level. Than 7.5 miles down deepest mine in the world temperature the Earth Apple News+ entrance of the mine for the deepest mine in world. 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