strip mining
present participle of strip-mined
/strɪp maɪnd/
adjective
- Describing land that has been mined by removing the surface layers of soil and rock to extract minerals or coal, often leaving the area scarred or damaged.
- Many former strip-mined areas have been turned into parks or wildlife habitats.
- Environmental groups are working to restore the strip-mined landscape to its natural state.
- The strip-mined hills were barren and covered in piles of waste rock.
verb
- Past tense of strip-mine: to mine (a site) by removing the surface layers of soil and rock to extract minerals or coal.
- The company strip-mined the entire valley for coal during the 1970s.
- The land was strip-mined so aggressively that nothing could grow there for decades.
- They strip-mined the area without any plan for reclamation.