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Mines/Uzbekistan

Muruntau mine

Muruntau mine, Uzbekistan. Producing, open pit, mining gold since 1969.

Why Muruntau is famous

Muruntau in the Kyzylkum desert is one of the biggest open-pit gold mines on earth. The deposit was found in 1958 and USGS records open-pit mining by Navoi since 1969. The state combine accounted for about 80% of Uzbek gold.1,2,3

Story cards

Muruntau today

Where gold is mined todayMining in Uzbekistan

Where next

Mines

An example ofOlimpiadaMuruntau is among the biggest open-pit gold mines. Olimpiada is Russia's largest operating one.1An example ofKalgoorlieTwo giant open-pit gold mines: Muruntau in Uzbekistan and the Super Pit at Kalgoorlie.1

Sources

  1. Setting of Muruntau gold: discovery history Virtual Explorer
  2. Minerals Yearbook 2020-21, volume III: The Mineral Industry of Uzbekistan US Geological Survey
  3. Muruntau mine Wikidata

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Escondida Mine, Chile, NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).