ULTRADISTANCIA: MONSTERS OF MINE

ultradistancia mines federico winer google earth monsters Mining contemporary photography experimental satellites fine art

PARTIZANSK

Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.

“The dancing monkey”. Gold deposits near the Angara river in the Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia.

In the brand new ULTRADISTANCIA series, MONSTERS OF MINE, open pit mines, abandoned mines sites and large mining operations from all over the world reveals their fascinating side carved out of the geography. High resolution satellite images of Russian diamond and North American iron ore, Australian gold, Argentine silver or North Caledonian nickel, among many other mines turned into fascinating creatures composed from Earth' s depth treasures.

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KIRUNA

Lapland, Sweden.

Kiruna is the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine located in Norrbotten County, Lapland, Sweden.

After the launch in 2016 of ULTRADISTANCIA, the acclaimed satellite art project that captured the attention of Google and media, i began to experimenting with digital crafts techniques that allowed me to create the beautiful monstrous figures that are revealed on the earth's surface.

LETLHAKANE

Central District, Botswana.

Letlhakane, meaning "little reeds”, is a diamond mine in Botswana.

Each of the forty pieces of the MONSTERS OF MINE series are real open pit mines captured by the satellites, manually worked without altering the original topography of the ground, to isolate the figures and creates the characters and personalities that are revealed.

ÄMMÄSSUO

Espoo, Finland.

Old Ämmässuo Landfill is a waste treatment centre of ash and slug from the waste-to-energy plant, covering an area of 52 hectares near Helsinki in Finland.

ALUMBRERA

Catamarca, Argentina.

Bajo de la Alumbrera is a copper, gold & molybdenum mine in Argentina, located 2600 mt over sea level in the Cordillera de los Andes.

CERRO VANGUARDIA

Santa Cruz, Argentina.

Cerro Vanguardia mine is a number of small open pits deposits of gold and silver as well as underground explorations. It is located 150 km north west of Puerto San Julian, in the south of Argentina’s Patagonia.

NEW CORNELIA

Arizona, USA.

The New Cornelia mine is an inactive open-pit copper mine in Pima County, Arizona. The mine was shut down in 1983 due to low copper prices

THIO

South Province, New Caledonia.

One of the largest nickel deposits in the world, is the oldest mine in New Caledonia.

BODDINGTON

Western Australia, Australia.

The Boddington Gold Mine is a gold and copper mine. The mine has now become Australia's largest gold mine, producing 20.1 tonnes of gold and 77 35 thousand tonnes of copper.

BLACK THUNDER

Wyoming, USA.

The Black Thunder Coal Mine is a surface coal mine containing one of the largest deposits of coal in the world. Black Thunder is the second most productive mine in the United States, providing the U.S. with eight percent of its coal supply.

MOUNTAIN IRON

Minnesota, USA

Mountain Iron Mine is a former iron ore mine which has proved to be the largest deposit ever discovered. Mining operations at the site ceased in 1956. It was was proclaimed a National Historic Landmark in 1968.

NORTH ANTELOPE ROCHELLE

Wyoming, USA.

North Antelope Rochelle Mine is the largest coal mine in the world. Produces more than 100 million tons of coal in per year. Part of the Powder River Basin, a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming known for its coal deposits.

CARAJAS

Pará, Brazil.

Discovered entirely by accident in the late-1960s when a helicopter was forced to land on a hill in the area, Carajas become the largest iron ore mine in the world. Also manganese, copper, tin, aluminium and even gold are extracted there.

COWAL

New South Wales, Australia.

Situated within the Bland, Lachlan and Forbes Shires on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri People, Cowal gold mine has a production 251,500 ounces this year.

SIERRITA

Arizona, USA.

Sierrita open pit has been in operation since 1959 and is a copper and molybdenum mining complex, located in the Sierrita Mountains of Arizona, in the southwestern part of the United States.

MIRNY

Sakha Republic, Russia.

The Mir mine was the first developed and the largest diamond mine in the Soviet Union. The mine is more than 525 meters deep, has a diameter of 1,200 m, and is one of the largest excavated holes in the world. Open-pit mining began in 1957 and was discontinued in 2001. Since 2009, it has been active as an underground diamond mine.

HULL RUST MAHONING

Minnesota, USA.

The Hull–Rust–Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine in Hibbing, Minnesota, United States, is the largest operating open-pit iron mine in Minnesota. The pit stretches more than 5 km long, 3 km wide, and 163 m deep was established in 1895 and was also one of the world's first open-pit mines.

VASILYEVSKY

Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.

Part of a cluster of gold mines near the Partizansk operation, belonging to Promploshchadka ZAO Vasil'yevskiy Rudnik.

SEVEROYENISEYSK

Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.

Severo-Yeniseyskiyis a town, mine and airport near the Blagodatnoe gold deposit and the Olimpiada open pit gold mine in Russia

DAUNIA & POITREL

Queensland, Australia.

Daunia and Poitrel are coal mines in Queensland. Located within the Bowen Basin, which is filled with fluvial and marine sediments. The Bowen basin is a part of Permo-Triassic Basin along with the Sydney and Gunnedah basin

PROMINENT HILL

South Australia, Australia.

Prominent Hill, a copper-gold mining operation in northern South Australia with two underground mines accessed through the open pit: the Malu mine extends vertically below the bottom of the open pit and the Ankata mine. Ankata means dragon lizard in a local indigenous language.

TELFER

Western Australia, Australia.

A copper and gold mine located in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia on the land of the Martu indigenous people.

ALLIANCE STEEL

Pahang, Malaysia.

Is a transnational metallurgical enterprise integrating production and the first industry park jointly developed by Malaysia and China, accorded as a “National Industrial Park” status.

BLAGODATNOYE

Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.

The Blagodatnoye mine is one of the largest gold mines in Russia and in the world with estimated reserves of 11.39 million oz of gold.

HIGHLAND VALLEY

British Columbia, Canada.

The Highland Valley Copper mine is the largest open pit copper mine in Canada, located near Logan Lake, British Columbia. It is an amalgamation of three historic mining operations: Bethlehem (later Valley Copper), Lornex and Highmont.

SALOBO

Pará, Brazil.

The mine, the largest copper deposit ever discovered in Brazil, is estimated to hold more than 1 billion tonnes of the red metal.

MISSION

Arizona, USA.

The Mission Complex, an open-pit mine composed of the Mission, Eisenhower, Pima, Mineral Hill and South San Xavier properties and the nearby North San Xavier mine. The current pit, 2.5 miles long by 1.5 mile wide and 1,200 feet deep, is situated on 20,000 acres. Benches are 40 feet high.

OLIMPIADA

Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.

Located in one of Russia’s most prolific gold mining provinces The Olimpiada mine is one of the largest gold mines in Russia and in the world. The mine has estimated resources of 47.37, and reserves of 30.01 million oz of gold. The ore mined at the site is processed at three plants with a combined capacity of 13 mln tonnes of ore annually.

BEŁCHATÓW

Lodz, Poland.

Next to the Bełchatów Coal Mine, the Bełchatów Power Station is the world's largest lignite-fired power station situated near Łódź. Represents one of the largest coal reserve in Poland having estimated reserves of 1,930 million tonnes of lignite coal.

CADIA

New South Wales. Australia.

Cadia Mine is a series of large underground and open-cut gold and copper mines. It is the second largest open cut mine in Australia after the Super Pit at Kalgoorlie.