News: Mapping shows South Africa’s Mpongeng, TauTona among highest and lowest places on earth

At 3,182ft, the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah is the deepest open pit mine in the world. However, the deepest underground gold mines, Mpongeng and TauTona Mines, both located in South Africa, are about 12,800ft deep into the Earth’s crust – four times as deep.

Even at that, the deepest artificial point on earth at 40,230ft is the Kola Borehole in Russia. Meanwhile the highest point on earth is Mount Everest at 29,035ft which is a little below 30,000 – 35,000ft, the height at which commercial planes fly.

Published on visualcapitalist.com, Jeff Desjardins presents infographics to show “The Highest and Lowest Places on Earth.”
See the article and the infographics below…

The Bingham Canyon Mine, which we discuss in our copper porphyry infographic, is the deepest open pit mine in the world at 3,182 ft.

The deepest underground gold mines are 4x as deep: Mpongeng and TauTona Mines, both located in South Africa, are about 12,800ft deep into the Earth’s crust. To put things in perspective, this is around the depth of the sunken Titanic and the deepest diving mammals in the ocean.

Another interesting fact we like from this infographic: La Rinconada is the world’s highest settlement in Chile at a staggering 16,728 ft. That is higher than the standard skydiving altitude, and barely below the spot where the highest clouds form.