Open pit mines seen from space

Wired magazine posted a collection of satellite views of open pit mines from around the world that are visually striking.  Only one, the New Cornellia mine from Ajo, is from Arizona.

Wired described the NASA photo at right, as "Copper was first mined from this area just south of the mining town of Ajo, Arizona, around 1750. The open-pit mine pictured above began being excavated in earnest in 1912. It was shut down in 1983 when the price of copper dropped. The scalloped land just to the right of the mine is covered in tailings, and the large gray rectangles above that are containment ponds where the metal was extracted."