It is amazing to prove once again that the greatest predator of the world is the human being, capable of digging incredible holes on the Earth to mine resources and carry on with their lives like if nothing important happened, and only really worrying about what other place is also good to commit the same ecologic atrocity that has been left behind.
The Kola Superdeep Borehole is a huge hole made by the direct intervention of the human being but with scientific purposes for geophysical studies and its digging is full of important anecdotes; its expedition lasted about 24 years, in the Russian city of Zapolyarny, with a depth of 7.5 miles, it is deeper than the Mariana Trench.
Along with these works, scientists extracted valuable materials for subsequent research, among them, rocks and plankton fossils and other creatures; however this was halted because of the intense heat that was found in the deepest part (more than 356º F), nowadays it has been covered by a huge metallic cover which was welded shut.
The Mir mine, which is abandoned nowadays, has 1144 feet of depth and 2640 feet of diameter, and it was the largest deposit of diamonds of the Soviet Union when it was still functioning, trucks lasted two hours to reach the deepest parts.
The largest artificial construction of the world, the Bingham Canyon Mine, which is a deposit of copper in the mountains of Oquirrh, in Utah, in 2640 feet deep and 2.5 miles in diameter, this is one of the most productive mines.
In the year 1866 in South Africa, Erasmus Jacobs found a white stone near Hopetown, it was a 21.25 carat diamond; then, in Colesberg Kopje an even larger diamond was found, weighting in at 83.5 carats, this caused the first diamond fever in the zone, then thousands of miners came in which ended up in the disappearance of the hill where it was, it was known as the Great Hole.
From 1866 to 1914, 50 thousand miners dug there with picks and axes, with a performance of 6000 pounds of diamonds, it is known as the largest manmade hole of the world; which has been proposed as world heritage.
In Chuquicamata, Chile, there is an open air copper mine which is also the largest producer of this mineral in the world, despite it not being the largest, it is 2790 feet deep.
Looking for where to acquire the rich minerals that Earth houses within, many huge holes have been dug by man, some have also been made to construct dams or monumental edifications which show power and importance; sometimes causing the destruction of forests and damage to the environment.
ALFA