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The Boddington Gold Mine is the largest open cut gold mine in Australia , surpassing the famed Super Pit ( Fimiston Open Pit ) after reopening production in 2009 . Located on Australia ’ s west coast , around 120km away from Perth , the mine was initially opened in 1987 before closing in 2001 . Following a three-way joint venture between Newmont , AngloGold Ashanti , and Newcrest , Newmont bought out AngloGold ’ s share in 2009 to become the sole owner and operator . The mine also produces copper sulphate , and reached its first million ounces of gold produced in March 2011 after just two years . Newmont launched its forestry carbon offset project at Boddington in 2009 , and has planted 800,000 mallee tree seedlings across New South Wales and Western Australia . The firm expects the trees to capture around 300,000 tonnes of carbon over a 30 to 50 year period , alongside boosting soil salinity and local biodiversity , and supporting Australia ’ s Clean Energy Act and Carbon Farming Initiative .

SUMMER / AUTUMN 2020

By Calistemon – Own work , CC BY-SA 3.0