In the arid outback of Western Australia, miners have excavated rust-colored soil to reach the precious minerals below. The open pits and ponds of Telfer mine can be seen in this image, captured by the OLI-2 (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9.
Telfer mine is located about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Port Hedland, on the land of the Martu Indigenous people in the Great Sandy Desert. The soils have a reddish tint from the iron oxides that have accumulated from millions of years of weathering. This part of Western Australia is known for being rich in natural resources, including petroleum, iron ore, copper, and certain precious metals. Beneath the soils, veins of gold and silver run through sedimentary rocks, such as quartz sandstone and siltstone, that formed during the late Proterozoic, about 600 million years ago, when much of Australia was under water.
The mine is comprised of open pits and underground operations (not visible) where ore is mined, as well as ponds where mining waste is managed and stored. Shadows are visible on the terrace-like benches within the open pits on the north side of the mine. These benches support work equipment and catch material from falling debris. On the southern end of the mine, impounded ponds store mining byproducts, or tailings. Once minerals are mined and processed on site, they are trucked to Port Hedland and exported to various smelters, mostly in East Asia.
Next to the mine lies housing for a small community, which includes an airport. Telfer is one of the most productive gold mines in Australia. In 2023, it yielded 349,000 ounces of gold.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Emily Cassidy.
