
Open-pit, open-cast or open cut mining is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow.. This form of mining differs from extractive methods that require tunneling into the earth, such as long wall mining.

The majority of open pit mines in Australia currently operate using discontinuous shovel/truck systems. These systems are favoured as they enable; (i) mining capacity to be progressively scaled up over the life of a mine; (ii) the use of narrow benches that defer the high costs of stripping, and (iii) flexibility to rapidly adapt mine plans in

The term is used to differentiate this form of mining from extractive methods that require tunneling into the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful minerals or rock are found near the surface; that is, where the overburden (surface material covering the valuable deposit) is relatively thin or the material of