The 10 Biggest Open Pits Ever Dug
An open pit is honesty at scale: every decision the mine ever made, visible from the rim in one glance. These ten holes are the largest deliberate excavations in human history — dimensions approximate, awe guaranteed.
| # | Pit | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bingham Canyon — Utah, USA | ~4 km wide, ~1.2 km deep |
| 2 | Chuquicamata — Chile | ~4.3 km long, ~900 m deep |
| 3 | Hull-Rust-Mahoning — Minnesota, USA | ~8 km sprawl |
| 4 | Escondida — Chile | Two superpits, one giant |
| 5 | Super Pit (Fimiston) — Australia | ~3.5 km long, ~600 m deep |
| 6 | Muruntau — Uzbekistan | ~3.5 km long, ~600 m deep |
| 7 | Mir — Russia | ~1.2 km wide, ~525 m deep |
| 8 | Grasberg (historic pit) — Indonesia | Crater at ~4,000 m elevation |
| 9 | Batu Hijau — Indonesia | ~2.5 km island amphitheater |
| 10 | Garzweiler — Germany | ~48 km² of moving mine |
The rundown
Bingham Canyon — Utah, USA
~4 km wide, ~1.2 km deepThe champion: over a century of copper mining and billions of tons moved — the largest man-made excavation on Earth, and still going.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEChuquicamata — Chile
~4.3 km long, ~900 m deep'Chuqui' rivaled Bingham for a century before going underground beneath its own floor. The pit remains — a canyon with benches.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEHull-Rust-Mahoning — Minnesota, USA
~8 km sprawlThe 'Grand Canyon of the North': dozens of merged iron pits on the Mesabi Range that armed the Allies through two world wars. Hibbing moved its entire downtown out of the way.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEEscondida — Chile
Two superpits, one giantThe world's top copper producer moves material measured in hundreds of millions of tons per year, in the driest desert on Earth.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBESuper Pit (Fimiston) — Australia
~3.5 km long, ~600 m deepKalgoorlie's Golden Mile consolidated into one enormous pit that swallowed a century of underground workings — old timbered stopes still appear in its walls.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEMuruntau — Uzbekistan
~3.5 km long, ~600 m deepThe largest gold pit on Earth keeps deepening on a deposit that seems to refuse to end.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEMir — Russia
~1.2 km wide, ~525 m deepThe Siberian diamond funnel so steep that legend says helicopters avoided its airspace. Closed at surface, mined underground, unforgettable from satellite.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEGrasberg (historic pit) — Indonesia
Crater at ~4,000 m elevationBefore going underground, Grasberg's pit crowned a Papuan mountain range — the most dramatic setting of any mine ever dug.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEBatu Hijau — Indonesia
~2.5 km island amphitheaterA copper-gold superpit carved into Sumbawa island — proof the megapit era went global.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEGarzweiler — Germany
~48 km² of moving mineNot deep — vast. The lignite operation crawls across the landscape behind bucket-wheel excavators the size of buildings, relocating villages as it goes. A pit that behaves like weather.
WIKI →▶︎ YOUTUBEEvery one of these began as a cross-section and a stripping-ratio argument. The difference between a big pit and a bankruptcy is the quality of that first economic analysis — the hole just makes the math visible.
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Figures are approximate, compiled from public sources as of mid-2026, and rounded for readability. Rankings shift with markets, mergers, and new discoveries. Nothing here is investment, legal, or engineering advice for a specific site — for that, hire an engineer. We know one.