An open-pit copper mine located in Ruth, Nevada. Surface mining is done by removing (stripping) surface vegetation, dirt, and, if necessary, layers of bedrock in order to reach buried ore deposits. Techniques of surface mining include: open-pit mining, which is the recovery of materials from an open pit in the ground, quarrying, identical to open-pit mining except that it refers to sand, stone and clay; strip mining, which consists of stripping surface layers off to reveal ore/seams underneath; and mountaintop removal, commonly associated with coal mining, which involves taking the top of a mountain off to reach ore deposits at depth. Most (but not all) placer deposits, because of their shallowly buried nature, are mined by surface methods. Finally, landfill mining involves sites where landfills are excavated and processed.

The interior of Pershing Quicksilver Works, Rochester Mining District, 20 miles north of Lovelock, Nevada. Taken during construction.

From the Nan Doughty Photograph Collection (PH-00240). Office and superintendent's house (collapsed), taken from top of tailings dump near ruins of hoisting works building.

This folder is from the "Correspondence" file of the Sadie and Hampton George Papers (MS-00434)

From the Nye County, Nevada Photograph Collection (PH-00221) -- Series V. Smoky Valley, Nevada and Round Mountain, Nevada -- Subseries V.C. Lofthouse-Berg Families (Round Mountain). View of a mining operation believed to be located somewhere in central Nevada, although the exact location and date are unknown. Possibly circa 1900s-1930s.

The end product, blister copper, is being poured from holding furnace into conveyor belt molds. Each bar weighs approximately 400 pounds and contains 99.4 percent copper.