A quarry is a large man made hole in the ground from where minerals or rock are extracted.
Quarries are made when large deposits of commercially useful minerals or rock are found near the Earth's surface. (A mineral is a chemical compound with a given composition and a defined atomic structure. A rock is a mixture of one or several minerals, in varying proportions).
Quarrying is a form of mining and is also known as open pit mining.
When minerals are found deep below the surface, a deep mine has to be dug to extract them.
Quarries are usually dug deeper and larger, until the mineral resource is exhausted. When they are no longer used, quarries are often used as landfill sites for the disposal of waste.
Minerals extracted from quarries include:
