Tau Tona Mine, South Africa

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.

Tourists may only visit the upper parts of the mine. The descent to the lower levels without special equipment is life-threatening. The shafts of the Goldmine reach the depth of 5 000 meters. From the African dialect, Tau Tona is translated as 'the Great Lion'. A very unusual cooling system was developed for the exploitation of the mine.

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