0.39 g/t

Gold grade of the Paracatu mine operated by Kinross Gold Corporation in Brazil, believed to be the lowest grade gold mine in the world. It has reserves of 1,461,061,000 tonnes at 0.39g/t for a total of 18,485,000 ounces of gold

 

3420oC

Melting point of Tungsten, the highest of all metals and second only to the melting point of Carbon. This compares with -39 for Mercury, 327 for Lead and 1535 for Iron

 

83

Number of countries, for which statistics are available, that produce salt. World production in 2010 was 266,500,000 tonnes, the biggest producers are the United States and China

 

95%

China’s share of rare earth element production. However, China only has 37% of the world’s reserves of the 17 eleme

 

19.28 g/cm3

Density of Gold in grams per cubic centimetre. Hydrogen has a density of 0.00008988, Iron of 8.784 and man-made element Hassium has an estimated density of 41 g/cm3

 

 

95 metres

Height of the Bagger 293, the world’s largest mobile mining machine, manufactured and operated in Germany. It is a bucket wheel excavator that weighs 14,200 tonnes and moves 240,000 cubic metres a day

 

 

April 26, 1942

1,549 coal miners lost their lives at Honkeiko Colliery, China. This is believed to be the worst mining disaster the world has ever seen

 

 

5,100 metres

Height above sea level of La Rinconada, a city of >30,000 that services the adjacent gold mine operated by Corporacion Ananea. It is the highest city in the world, the highest point in Australia is only 2,228 metres

 

 

3,750 horsepower

Output of a Terex MT 6300AC, one of the world’s largest mining trucks. It is 7.9 metres high with a payload of 400 tonnes and gross weight of 660 tonnes

 

 

610 BC

Date the first known gold coins were minted in Lydia, located in what is now Turkey. China is thought to have also minted gold coins around 600 BC

 

 

2,400,000,000 tonnes

Estimated global iron ore production in 2010. Of which 900,000,000 tonnes were produced by China and 420,000,000 tonnes by Australia

 

 

7,229,000,000 tonnes

Estimated global hard coal production in 2010. Of which 3,162,000,000 tonnes were produced by China and 353,000,000 tonnes by Australia

 

 

3,900 metres

Depth of the TauTona Mine, the world’s deepest underground mine in the West Wits gold field, SA, operated by AngloGold Ashanti. It takes one hour to travel to the deepest faces which reach a temperature of 60 oC

 

 

11,554,000,000 tonnes

Total sulphide resource at Escondida, Chile, at a grade of 0.59% copper. This is in addition to a total reserve of 4,977,000,000 tonnes at a grade of 0.71% copper

 

 

29,000,000 tonnes

Copper produced from Chuquicamata mine in Chile through 2007. It is one of the largest and oldest copper mines in the world and has been mined since at least the fourth century A.D.

 

 

1,600 metres

Depth of the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, USA. The mine is the world’s deepest open pit and is a National Historic Landmark that has been in operation since 1906

19 April 2013 Resource Sector