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.

West End Chemical Mine, 1925.

A picture of a "Chicago Nevada Gold Mining Co" sign near Virginia City.

A picture of a gold mining building near Virginia City.

Men gather around a table in the mountains in Chloride, Arizona.

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

Stereoview of Goldfield, Nevada taken by Olaf P. Larson. The images are mining views taken at night.