Tau Tona Mine, South Africa
From series “The Most Inaccessible Spots of the Planet”
Some difficult-to-reach places, whose formation was influenced by humans, can be found deep under the earth. Recently, the Tau Tona Mine, located in the Johannesburg area, became the world-famous landmark. This is the largest mine on earth. The ability to reach the mine is not only due to its great depth. One of the distinctive peculiarities of deep mines is very high temperature.
On the surface was built an industrial complex that produces ice. The ice is drained through the special pipelines into the depth of the mine, which allows the temperature in the deepest mine parts to reduce to 28 degrees Celsius. Without this measure, the temperature forms more than 40 degrees, which together with the high humidity makes working conditions unbearable. Every day thousands of workers enter the Tau Tona Mine. The journey to the workplace of some workers takes about an hour. Working in the deep pit is very dangerous. According to statistics, an average of 5 people per year are killed in the mine. Next - Naica Crystal Cave
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Tau Tona Mine - interactive map
Useful staff nearby
ATM bankomat: 'African Bank' located in 1.78 km (
check the route on the map).
Car rental office: 'Europcar - Potchefstroom' is located in 45 km (
on the map).
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