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 The Liberty Pit of the Robinson Mining District - Ely, NV Posted by:  Volcanoguy
N 39° 14.866 W 114° 53.630
11S E 681747 N 4346386
History sign at parking lot on the SE corner of Aultman St. & 4th St.
Waymark Code: WMWWHJ
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 10/22/2017
Views: 1
History sign at parking lot on the SE corner of Aultman St. & 4th St. Also at this parking lot is a mural about the Liberty Pit, a rock display from the Liberty Pit, and some mining equipment.
Marker Title (required): The Liberty Pit of the Robinson Mining District
Marker Text (required):
Digging began on the Liberty Pit in 1908, the same time that the Nevada Northern Railway tracks reached Copper Flat from Ely.
When work started, the pit was not a pit at all, but two small hills instead. The old map below shows the original topographic contous of the two small hills. The topo contours were mapped in 1906 and the railroad tracks were added to the map after 1908 for this 1910 version.
The Liberty Pit is one mile long, five-eighths of a mile wide, and more than 500 feet deep. At on time, it was the largest man-made hole in the world. The pictures show the railroad tracks in the pit — 14 miles of concentric loops used to remove both overburden and ore.
By the mid 1950’s, Kennecott Copper Corporation had mined at leas 125 million tons of ore from the Liberty Pit that produced more than 3 trillion pounds of copper, 1.3 million ounces of gold, and 4.8 million ounces of silver.
Today, the Liberty Pit is not actively mined, but other open pits of the Robinson District are still in operation. Wuadra Mining acquired the property in 2004 and they continue to produce copper, gold, silver, and other metals. KGHM International, the world’s second largest copper producer, purchased Quadra FNX in March 2012.
County (required): White Pine
Marker Type (required): Other (describe below)
Other Marker Type (optional): Sign under glass with wood backing
Is Marker Damaged? (required): No
Other Damage Type (optional): No
URL - Website (optional): [Web Link]
Marker Number (If official State Marker from NV SHPO website above, otherwise leave blank): Not Listed
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