44 operations. Operator and ownership are as publicly reported by the operators; scale is described rather than asserted with a production figure unless the operator publishes one.
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Mine | Country | Operator | Type | Deposit | Produces | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athabasca Oil Sands (Mildred Lake / Aurora) Alberta | Canada | Syncrude / Suncor | Truck-and-shovel surface mining | Bitumen-saturated sand | Oil Sands & Bitumen, Crude Oil, Sulfur | 1967 |
| Bayan Obo Inner Mongolia | China | Baogang Group | Open pit | Carbonatite-hosted iron-REE-niobium | Rare Earths (all), Cerium, Iron Ore, Lanthanum… | 1957 |
| Bingham Canyon Utah | United States | Rio Tinto Kennecott | Open pit | Porphyry copper | Copper, Gold, Molybdenum, Silver | 1906 |
| Bowen Basin Queensland | Australia | BHP Mitsubishi Alliance and others | Open pit and underground longwall | Permian coal measures | Metallurgical Coal | 1960 |
| Cannington Queensland | Australia | South32 | Underground | Broken Hill-type silver-lead-zinc | Silver, Lead, Zinc | 1997 |
| Carajás Pará | Brazil | Vale | Open pit | Banded iron formation | Iron Ore, Copper, Manganese, Gold | 1985 |
| Cerro Verde Arequipa | Peru | Freeport-McMoRan | Open pit | Porphyry copper | Copper, Molybdenum, Silver | 1976 |
| Chuquicamata Antofagasta | Chile | Codelco | Underground (converted from open pit) | Porphyry copper | Copper, Molybdenum | 1910 |
| Cigar Lake Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan | Canada | Cameco | Underground, jet-boring through frozen ground | Unconformity-related uranium | Uranium | 2014 |
| Collahuasi Tarapacá | Chile | Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi | Open pit | Porphyry copper | Copper, Molybdenum, Silver | 1999 |
| El Teniente O'Higgins | Chile | Codelco | Underground block cave | Porphyry copper | Copper, Molybdenum | 1905 |
| Escondida Antofagasta, Atacama Desert | Chile | BHP | Open pit + leach | Porphyry copper | Copper, Gold, Molybdenum, Silver | 1990 |
| Esterhazy Saskatchewan | Canada | Mosaic | Underground | Bedded evaporite potash | Potash | 1962 |
| Goulamina Bougouni | Mali | Lithium du Mali | Open pit | LCT pegmatite | Lithium | 2024 |
| Grasberg Papua | Indonesia | Freeport-McMoRan / PT-FI | Underground block cave (formerly open pit) | Porphyry / skarn copper-gold | Copper, Gold, Silver | 1973 |
| Greenbushes Western Australia | Australia | Talison Lithium | Open pit | Zoned pegmatite | Lithium, Tantalum | 1888 |
| Groote Eylandt (GEMCO) Northern Territory | Australia | South32 | Open pit | Sedimentary manganese | Manganese | 1965 |
| Jwaneng Naledi River valley | Botswana | Debswana | Open pit | Kimberlite pipe | Diamond (Industrial) | 1982 |
| Kalgoorlie Super Pit (Fimiston) Western Australia | Australia | Northern Star Resources | Open pit | Archaean orogenic gold | Gold, Silver | 1989 |
| Kamoa-Kakula Lualaba | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Kamoa Copper SA | Underground | Sediment-hosted stratiform copper | Copper, Cobalt | 2021 |
| Kamoto (KCC) Kolwezi | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Kamoto Copper Company | Underground + open pit | Sediment-hosted copper-cobalt | Copper, Cobalt | 1969 |
| Khouribga Oulad Abdoun Basin | Morocco | OCP Group | Open pit | Sedimentary phosphorite | Phosphate Rock | 1921 |
| Moanda Haut-Ogooué | Gabon | Eramet / Comilog | Open pit | Sedimentary manganese | Manganese | 1962 |
| Mogalakwena Limpopo, Bushveld Complex | South Africa | Anglo American Platinum | Open pit | Layered mafic intrusion (Platreef) | Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Copper, Nickel | 1993 |
| Morenci Arizona | United States | Freeport-McMoRan | Open pit + SX-EW leach | Porphyry copper | Copper, Molybdenum | 1872 |
| Mount Weld Western Australia | Australia | Lynas Rare Earths | Open pit | Weathered carbonatite | Rare Earths (all), Neodymium, Praseodymium | 2011 |
| Mountain Pass California | United States | MP Materials | Open pit | Carbonatite | Rare Earths (all), Cerium, Lanthanum, Neodymium… | 1952 |
| Mponeng Gauteng, Witwatersrand | South Africa | Harmony Gold | Underground | Witwatersrand conglomerate reef | Gold, Uranium | 1986 |
| Mutanda Lualaba | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Glencore | Open pit | Sediment-hosted copper-cobalt | Cobalt, Copper | 2012 |
| Norilsk-Talnakh Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia | Russia | Nornickel | Underground | Magmatic nickel-copper-PGM sulfide | Nickel, Copper, Palladium, Platinum, Cobalt, Rhodium | 1935 |
| Olympic Dam South Australia | Australia | BHP | Underground | Iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) | Copper, Uranium, Gold, Silver | 1988 |
| Oyu Tolgoi South Gobi | Mongolia | Rio Tinto | Open pit + underground block cave | Porphyry copper-gold | Copper, Gold, Silver | 2013 |
| Pilbara Iron Ore District Western Australia | Australia | Rio Tinto, BHP, FMG, Hancock | Open pit | Banded iron formation, hematite enrichment | Iron Ore | 1966 |
| Pilgangoora Pilbara, Western Australia | Australia | Pilbara Minerals | Open pit | LCT pegmatite | Lithium, Tantalum | 2018 |
| Red Dog Alaska | United States | Teck Resources | Open pit | Sediment-hosted zinc-lead (SEDEX) | Zinc, Lead, Germanium | 1989 |
| Salar de Atacama Antofagasta | Chile | SQM and Albemarle | Brine evaporation | Salar brine | Lithium, Potash, Boron | 1984 |
| Salar del Hombre Muerto Catamarca / Salta | Argentina | Arcadium Lithium (Rio Tinto) | Brine, selective adsorption | Salar brine | Lithium | 1998 |
| Sorowako Sulawesi | Indonesia | PT Vale Indonesia | Open pit + smelter | Nickel laterite | Nickel, Cobalt | 1977 |
| Southern China Ion-Adsorption Clays Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian | China | Multiple state-consolidated producers | In-situ leaching of weathered granite | Ion-adsorption clay | Rare Earths (all), Dysprosium, Gadolinium, Terbium… | 1970 |
| Sudbury Basin Ontario | Canada | Vale and Glencore | Underground | Impact-related magmatic sulfide | Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, Palladium, Platinum | 1883 |
| Tenke Fungurume Lualaba | Democratic Republic of the Congo | CMOC | Open pit + hydrometallurgical plant | Sediment-hosted copper-cobalt | Copper, Cobalt | 2009 |
| Thacker Pass Nevada | United States | Lithium Americas | Open pit + acid leach | Volcano-sedimentary claystone | Lithium | — |
| Udachny Sakha (Yakutia) | Russia | Alrosa | Underground (formerly open pit) | Kimberlite pipe | Diamond (Industrial) | 1971 |
| Xikuangshan Hunan | China | Chinese state and provincial producers | Underground | Stibnite vein and stratabound antimony | Antimony | 1897 |
Browse by picture
Athabasca Oil Sands (Mildred Lake / Aurora)
Among the largest surface mining operations in the world by material moved.
Bayan Obo
The largest rare-earth deposit in the world.
Bingham Canyon
The largest excavation made by people.
Bowen Basin
The largest seaborne source of hard coking coal.
Cannington
One of the largest single silver producers in the world.
Carajás
The highest-grade large iron-ore operation in the world.
Cerro Verde
One of the largest concentrator complexes in the world by throughput.
Chuquicamata
Historically the largest open-pit copper mine in the world by excavated volume.
Cigar Lake
The highest-grade large uranium mine in the world.
Collahuasi
Among the largest copper mines by output.
El Teniente
The largest underground copper mine in the world by excavated extent.
Escondida
Consistently the largest copper mine in the world by output.
Esterhazy
The largest potash mine in the world.
Goulamina
One of the mines behind Mali's sudden appearance in world lithium statistics.
Grasberg
One of the largest copper deposits and among the largest gold deposits ever mined.
Greenbushes
The largest hard-rock lithium mine in the world.
Groote Eylandt (GEMCO)
One of the largest and highest-grade manganese operations in the world.
Jwaneng
The richest diamond mine in the world by value.
Kalgoorlie Super Pit (Fimiston)
One of the largest open-pit gold mines in the world.
Kamoa-Kakula
One of the highest-grade large copper deposits discovered in decades.
Kamoto (KCC)
Among the world's largest cobalt producers.
Khouribga
Part of the largest phosphate reserve base in the world.
Moanda
One of the world's largest manganese deposits.
Mogalakwena
The largest open-pit platinum-group metals mine in the world.
Morenci
The largest copper operation in North America.
Mount Weld
The mine behind the largest rare-earth separation capacity outside China.
Mountain Pass
The only operating rare-earth mine in the United States.
Mponeng
The deepest mine on Earth, working below 4 km.
Mutanda
At times the single largest cobalt mine in the world.
Norilsk-Talnakh
The largest palladium source in the world and a major nickel producer.
Olympic Dam
One of the largest single orebodies of any kind, holding copper, uranium, gold and silver together.
Oyu Tolgoi
Expected to become one of the largest copper mines in the world as the block cave ramps up.
Pilbara Iron Ore District
The largest iron-ore export region in the world.
Pilgangoora
One of the largest independent hard-rock lithium operations.
Red Dog
One of the largest zinc mines in the world.
Salar de Atacama
The highest-grade and most productive lithium brine operation in the world.
Salar del Hombre Muerto
The longest-running direct lithium extraction operation in the world.
Sorowako
One of Indonesia's long-established integrated nickel operations.
Southern China Ion-Adsorption Clays
Historically the dominant world source of heavy rare earths.
Sudbury Basin
One of the longest-producing nickel districts on Earth.
Tenke Fungurume
One of the largest cobalt sources on Earth.
Thacker Pass
The largest known lithium resource in the United States.
Udachny
One of the world's largest diamond operations.
Xikuangshan
The largest antimony deposit in the world, often called the 'antimony capital'.