I stand at the edge of an enormous hole.
The huge pit drops off suddenly at my feet, and my breath sucks in with a gasp. The cavity is 400 feet deep, 3000 feet long and 1000 feet wide. Banks 40 feet wide run around its sides like giant steps to the bottom. Far below a tiny monster scoop loads rock with a dusty crash into a tiny monster truck. Radiating outward are raw scars of the mine's discarded waste. White piles of rock are everywhere. The peaks of the Black Mountains loom behind.