The Super Pit is the reason most people come to Kalgoorlie. It is one of the largest open-cut gold mines on the planet, half a kilometre deep, easy to visit, free to look at. Here is what you need to know.
What it actually is
The official name is the Fimiston Open Pit. Most people call it the Super Pit. It sits on the eastern side of Kalgoorlie, right up against the edge of town. You can stand on Outridge Terrace, look east, and watch trucks the size of houses crawl up its walls.
Numbers, because everyone asks. Around 3.5 km long, 1.5 km wide, 600 metres deep at the lowest point. About 100 km of haul roads spiralling down its sides. Some of the haul trucks are CAT 793s, which carry 240 tonnes a load; the bigger 797s carry 360 tonnes. The mine produces somewhere between 600,000 and 800,000 ounces of gold a year, depending on the grade being worked and where they are in the pit. At today's gold price that is a lot of money coming out of a hole.
It was created by consolidating dozens of separate underground leases on the Golden Mile, the richest square mile of gold-bearing ground ever found. Alan Bond and Robert Champion de Crespigny did the consolidating in the late 1980s. Two operators ran it for thirty years (Newmont and Barrick in joint venture). Northern Star Resources, based in Perth, bought the whole thing in 2019 and 2020 and now owns it outright.
The lookout
Free, sealed, fenced, signed. From the centre of town head east on Hannan Street, turn right on Lane Street, then left on Outridge Terrace. About four minutes from the GPO. The carpark holds about fifty cars and a couple of caravans; in winter it can be full at 4pm.
What you see from the lookout is the southern wall and a chunk of the bottom. The trucks are the size of a thumbnail from up there. There are signs along the rail explaining what each terrace is. The drop is real; the safety rail is solid; this is not Uluru, you can lean on the rail and be fine.
It is open during daylight hours, every day except when the operator closes it for blasting or weather. Closures are signed at the entry. Toilets are clean and there is a small undercover area with seating.
The blasts
The blasts are the headline event. Most days the mine fires a blast around 1pm but the time is not fixed and it can be moved by weather, operations, or visibility. KCGM publishes the day's blast time on a recorded info line and on social media before the day starts. Check it before you go.
About a minute before the blast you hear a siren. Three short blasts, then a pause, then a longer one. Trucks and people on the bench move clear. Then there is a low rumble, dust kicks up across the wall, and a brown plume rises over whichever section was fired. The shockwave reaches the lookout a few seconds after that as a soft thud you feel in your chest. The plume drifts. The trucks reappear. It is over in maybe ninety seconds.
It is the kind of thing visitors leave talking about. Worth the timing.
What you cannot do
Walk in. The Pit is an active industrial site. The lookout is as close as the public gets.
Fly a drone. Anywhere near the Pit. The exclusion zone is large, the operator monitors aggressively and reports unauthorised drones to CASA. You will lose the drone and probably get fined. Some people learn this slowly.
Climb anything. There is a clear fenced edge for a reason.
Visit at night. The lookout is closed after dark, signed, gated.
The mine tour (Hannans North)
You cannot tour the active Super Pit. You can tour Hannans North Tourist Mine, a few kilometres north, which is an open-air museum on a real ex-mine site. It is the closest you will get to walking on a mining bench. Includes a 793 haul truck you can climb into. Worth the half-day for anyone interested in the industrial side. Family-friendly, paid entry.
For underground experience, the WA School of Mines occasionally runs tours of their training mine. Check with the school directly; spots are limited and tend to fill quickly.
Photos
The lookout faces roughly east. That means the western wall of the Pit (the one you can see clearly) is well-lit in the late afternoon and silhouetted in the morning. Plan your photos accordingly.
Best shots in our experience:
- Late afternoon wide shot from the right-hand side of the rail, when the sun catches the dump trucks crawling up the western ramp.
- The blast plume rising, taken just after the dust clears (about 30 seconds after the boom).
- Close-crop of a haul truck against the wall, telephoto lens, to show the scale.
- Anything at sunset with the haul road lights coming on, which happens around 5pm in winter and 7pm in summer.
Phone cameras struggle with the distance. Bring a real camera with a zoom if you have one. Polarising filter helps with the haze.
The history in three minutes
From 1893 to 1989, gold on the Golden Mile was worked by dozens of separate underground mines. Each had its own headframe, its own shaft, its own crew. By the late 1980s many were marginal or worked-out, but the ground between them still held ore. Consolidating it into one open-pit operation made the marginal ore profitable. That is the Super Pit.
The pit grew through the 1990s and 2000s and is now in its sixth or seventh cutback (the pit walls are stepped back periodically to allow it to be dug deeper). Recent operator plans suggest open-cut mining at depth becomes uneconomic at some point and a return to underground mining will follow. The Mt Charlotte mine, on the other side of town, is already a working underground operation owned by the same group.
Gold prices drive everything. When the price is high, marginal ore becomes ore. Cutbacks proceed. When prices fall, operators trim crews, defer pushbacks, and focus on the better grades. The town's fortunes have always tracked the chart.
While you are out there
You are five minutes by car from Hannan Street, so most people pair the lookout with something else. A few sensible combinations:
- Lookout, then Mt Charlotte reservoir. Both are on the eastern edge of town. Twenty minutes apart. Gives you the Pit and the pipeline story in the same arvo.
- Lookout, then Boulder. Drive down past the southern pit walls (most of the haul roads are visible from the road south) and into Boulder for a beer at the Reccy.
- Lookout, then Hannans North. The mining museum is about ten minutes north. Together they make a half-day.
Practical bits
Toilets at the lookout: yes, clean, accessible.
Wheelchair access: yes, sealed paths, good fencing height, accessible viewing.
Dogs: on lead, fine.
Drinks: bring your own; nothing for sale on site. Closest shop is a 7-Eleven on Boulder Road, three minutes back towards town.
Shade: limited. There is one small undercover area. In summer expect to be on hot bitumen for most of the visit.
Cost: free.
How long: forty-five minutes for a casual look. Ninety minutes if you want to wait for a blast and take photos.
Best season: April to October, when the light is softer and the heat is manageable. December and January are brutal at the lookout in the middle of the day.
One last thing
The underground future
The operator has been clear in recent investor briefings that open-cut mining will not last forever at Fimiston. Past a certain depth the cost of stripping waste rock to access ore becomes uneconomic compared to underground extraction. The current life-of-mine plan involves continuing open-cut operations through the late 2020s and into the 2030s, with progressively more underground production added to the mix.
This is not the end of mining at Kalgoorlie. The Golden Mile remains one of the richest gold structures on the planet, and underground operations on the same ground are technically straightforward. The visible Pit will eventually stop growing, but trucks, trains, and gold output will keep coming.
Quick FAQ
Can I visit at night? No. The lookout is closed after dark, and the active mine has full perimeter security.
Is there a tour of the actual Pit? No. The active mine has not run public tours for years. Hannans North Tourist Mine is the closest you will get to walking on a mining bench.
Are blasts dangerous? Not from the lookout. The exclusion zone is enormous and the lookout is well outside it. You feel a small shockwave, that is all.
Can I take a drone shot? No, and please do not try. CASA exclusion zones, KCGM monitoring, and active aviation operations all combine to make this both illegal and a fast way to lose your gear.
Best time of year? April to October for comfortable temperatures. Late afternoon any day for the best light.
Is there a fee? No. The lookout is free, always has been.