Surface mining in the context of Underground soft-rock mining

Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth.

Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or rocks are found near the surface where the overburden is relatively thin. In contrast, deeper mineral deposits can be reached using underground mining.

Mountaintop removal mining (MTR), also known as mountaintop mining (MTM), is a form of surface mining at the summit or summit ridge of a mountain. Coal seams are extracted from a mountain by removing the land, or overburden, above the seams. This process is considered to be safer compared to underground mining because the coal seams are accessed from above instead of underground. In the United States, this method of coal mining is conducted in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. Explosives are used to remove up to 400 vertical feet (120 m) of mountain to expose underlying coal seams. Excess rock and soil is dumped into nearby valleys, in what are called "holler fills" ("hollow fills") or "valley fills".

A dragline excavator is a heavy-duty excavator used in civil engineering and surface mining. It was invented in 1904, and presented an immediate challenge to the steam shovel and its diesel and electric powered descendant, the power shovel. Much more efficient than even the largest of the latter, it enjoyed a heyday in extreme size for most of the 20th century, first becoming challenged by more efficient rotary excavators in the 1950s, then superseded by them on the upper end from the 1970s on.

The largest ever walking dragline was Big Muskie, a Bucyrus-Erie 4250-W put online in 1969 that swung a 220 cu yd (170 m), 325 ton capacity bucket, had a 310 feet (94 m) boom, and weighed 13,500 tons.

Mining engineering is the extraction of minerals from the ground. It is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer may manage any phase of mining operations, from exploration and discovery of the mineral resources, through feasibility study, mine design, development of plans, production and operations to mine closure.

A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining.

Their primary function is that of a continuous digging machine in large-scale open-pit mining operations, removing thousands of tons of overburden a day. What sets them apart from other large-scale mining equipment, such as bucket chain excavators, is their use of a large wheel consisting of a continuous pattern of buckets which scoop material as the wheel turns. They are among the largest land or sea vehicles ever produced. The 14,200-ton Bagger 293 holds the Guinness World Record for the heaviest land-based vehicle ever built.

In mining, overburden (also called waste or spoil) is the material that lies above an area that lends itself to economical exploitation, such as the rock, soil, and ecosystem that lies above a coal seam or ore body. Overburden is distinct from tailings, the material that remains after economically valuable components have been extracted from the generally finely milled ore. Overburden is removed during surface mining, but is typically not contaminated with toxic components. Overburden may also be used to restore an exhausted mining site during reclamation.

Interburden is material that lies between two areas of economic interest, such as the material separating coal seams within strata.

The Sorbian settlement area (Lower Sorbian: Serbski sedleński rum [ˈsɛrpskʲi ˈsɛdlɛnʲskʲi ˈrum], Upper Sorbian: Serbski sydlenski rum [ˈsɛʁpskʲi ˈsɨdlɛnskʲi ˈʁum], German: Sorbisches Siedlungsgebiet; in Brandenburg officially Siedlungsgebiet der Sorben/Wenden) commonly makes reference to the area in the east of Saxony and the South of Brandenburg in which the West Slavic people of the Sorbs (in Brandenburg also called "Wends") live autochthonously. In colloquial German, it is called Sorbenland (Land of the Sorbs); before 1945 also – sometimes pejoratively – called Wendei.

This area was reduced constantly during the centuries due to assimilation, Germanization and strip mining lignite. Additionally, the identification as Sorb is free under federal and state law and cannot be verified. Therefore, different approaches on defining who belongs to the Sorbian people exist. Identifying Sorbs are not in the majority in most of the Sorbian settlement area, but rather a – in part very small – minority.

The Tagebau Garzweiler (German pronunciation: [ˈtaːɡəbaʊ̯ ˈɡaʁt͜sˌʋaɪ̯lɐ]) is a surface mine (German: Tagebau) in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is operated by RWE and used for mining lignite. The mine currently has a size of 48 km (19 sq mi) and got its name from the village of Garzweiler [de] which previously existed at this location. The community was moved to a section of Jüchen with the same name.

A bucket chain excavator (BCE) is a piece of heavy equipment used in surface mining and dredging. BCEs use buckets on a revolving chain to remove large quantities of material. They are similar to bucket-wheel excavators and trenchers. Bucket chain excavators remove material from below their plane of movement, which is useful if the pit floor is unstable or underwater.