The most common method of mining porphyry copper, and the least expensive where a large orebody is situated close to the surface.

A surficial mining method for extraction of ore that lies near the earth’s surface. The ore must first be exposed by the removal of barren overburden and waste rock.

Open-pit mining is the most common mining method because of the low costs and high production volumes that it affords. However it requires an ore-body to be near the surface.

Surface mining method in which overlaying rock, or overburden, is removed to expose the ore body, which is then drilled, blasted, and loaded into trucks, or (formerly) railroad cars, for haulage from the pit.

Removing minerals such as gravel, sand, and metal ores by digging them out of the earth's surface and leaving an open pit. Compare area strip mining, contour strip mining, dredging, mountaintop removal, subsurface mining.