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Timeline for What is the deepest we have ever gone into the Earth?

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Dec 18, 2022 at 23:21 comment added Stax There are so many mines along the 56 km long Witwatersrand gold reef in South Africa that the water levels in many abandoned mines is kept down by pumping in adjacent working mines. In the 1990's I went on a mine tour of one that that was abandoned in the 70s. We went to just short of the bottom of the first 1km deep shaft, where the water level was. They only needed to pump occasionally when there was sustained wet weather. (There were 2 further flooded 1km deep shafts and winding houses, vertically above each other, originally reaching down to over 3km, the deepest at the time.)
Aug 2, 2018 at 4:29 vote accept Muze
May 16, 2019 at 3:57
S May 18, 2018 at 8:22 history suggested Muze CC BY-SA 4.0
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May 18, 2018 at 2:44 review Suggested edits
S May 18, 2018 at 8:22
May 18, 2018 at 2:40 history rollback JeopardyTempest
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S May 17, 2018 at 3:34 history suggested Muze CC BY-SA 4.0
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May 16, 2018 at 22:35 review Suggested edits
S May 17, 2018 at 3:34
May 16, 2018 at 18:39 history edited jamesqf CC BY-SA 4.0
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May 16, 2018 at 17:41 comment added Fred The usable depth depends on the water table & how much of the mine is flooded.
May 16, 2018 at 17:39 comment added Lightness Races in Orbit @Fred: Not if it's flooded ;)
May 16, 2018 at 17:38 comment added Fred @LightnessRacesinOrbit: Not necessarily. It may be abandoned by large mining companies for mining purposes but it could be re-purposed. Smaill scale illegal miners could attempt scavenging operations or it could be used for scientific purposes such as the former [Homestake Mine ](en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestake_experiment) which is housing an experiment to detect neutrinos produced by the Sun.
May 16, 2018 at 16:46 comment added Lightness Races in Orbit @Fred: But if it's abandoned, nobody will be down there anyway.
May 16, 2018 at 8:38 comment added Fred How far below the surface is the natural water table at the mine? Because once the mine is eventually abandoned, when the recoverable gold has been mined, the pumps will be turned off & the mine will flood, which will reduce the depth that anyone could have access to while breathing air.
May 16, 2018 at 4:11 history answered jamesqf CC BY-SA 4.0