PARTIZANSK
Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.
“The dancing monkey”. Gold deposits near the Angara river in the Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia.
ULTRADISTANCIA: MONSTERS OF MINE
When i look up to the sky i see gods, when i look down to earth i discover monsters. But gods are not necessarily good nor monsters bad, they are just puzzled about us, humans, staring at them from here.
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.
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.
Each of of the 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.
If the original ULTRADISTANCIA series was about the search for the incredible patterns and geometries made by the man or offered by the pure nature, in the forms on the surface of the earth as seen from above; and also about the possibility of travel without movement by hovering the globe with the use of satellite imagery; MONSTERS OF MINE adds the encounter of animal, anthropomorphic and monsterish figures in the places where the hand of the man have drastically altered the terrain.
Turn the, sometimes terrible, mining activity into, sometimes beautiful, monsters allows me to reflect on how much we need and love the same things that can, sometimes, badly affect us. We love our monsters.
Took me a little perspective, a higher ground and a more accurate eye to start finding the MONSTERS OF MINE. Once discovered it will be impossible not to see them from now on.
KIRUNA
Lapland, Sweden.
Kiruna is the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine located in Norrbotten County, Lapland, Sweden.
LETLHAKANE
Central District, Botswana.
Letlhakane, meaning "little reeds”, is a diamond mine in Botswana.
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.
EKATI
Northern Territories, Canada.
The Ekati Diamond Mine (named after the Tlicho word meaning ‘fat lake’, in the language spoken by the Tłı̨chǫ of the Canadian Northwest Territories) is Canada’s first surface and underground diamond mine.
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
YANACOCHA
Cajamarca, Perú.
Considered to be the fourth largest gold mine in the world, it produced 0.97 million ounces of gold in 2014. Located in the northern highlands of Los Andes Mountains at 3,500 and 4,100mts.
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.
KOPETO
North Province, New Caledonia.
Népoui - Kopéto nickel center are one of the biggest deposits of the nickel industries in the island of New Caledonia
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.
UDACHNY
Sakha Republic, Russia.
Mined to a depth of more than 630m, Udachny diamond mine is one of the 10 deepest open-pit mines in the world. The mine was discovered on 1955 but the mining activities began in 1971.
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.
PALABORA
Limpopo, South Africa.
Palabora is a copper mine in the town of Phalaborwa, in South Africa's Limpopo Province, located directly adjacent to the world-renowned eco-tourism attraction, the Kruger National Park.
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.
OLENEGORSK
Murmansk Oblast, Russia.
An Iron Ore concentrate production in the northernmost part of Russia, 200 kilometers north of the Arctic circle.
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.
PASCUA LAMA
Atacama Region, Chile. San Juan, Argentina.
Pascua-Lama is an open pit mining project of gold, silver, copper and other minerals, located in the Andes mountains, in the southern reaches of Atacama Desert, straddling the border between Chile and Argentina.
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.
KOSTOMUKSHA
Karelia Republic, Russia.
The Kostomuksha mine is a large iron mine located in north-western Russia in the Republic of Karelia, 50 kilometers of the border with Finland.
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.
CORTA ATALAYA
Andalucía, Spain.
Corta Atalaya is the largest open-pit copper mine in Europe and was at one time the largest in the world. It was actively mined until 1992, now is flooded but is expected to be reopened soon.
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.
40 x 30 cm (15.7 x 11.8 in) - Framed in black
80 x 60 cm (31.4 x 23.6 in) - Framed in black
110 x 82.5 cm (43.3 x 32.4 in) - Framed in black
110 x 52,2 cm (43.3 x 20.4 in) - Framed in black with white mat
80 x 60 cm - Framed in black - Hang in living room
