The Fimiston Open Pit (Super Pit) measures 3.5km long, 1.5km wide and more than 600 metres deep. Interestingly, these measurements define what has been removed from the mine rather than what actually exists. As such, the size of a mine is determined by the volume of its void.

No other open pit operation in the world has as many voids as the Fimiston Open Pit. A century of mining has left over 3500km of historical underground workings extending more than 1200 metres below the surface. This vast underground network has significantly shaped the way the Pit has been mined. The complexities of these subterranean systems are always concealed below the surface.

GOLDEN VOID aims to physically represent the incredibly vast volume of the Fimiston Open Pit and highlight the 15 million tonnes of rock which are moved each year. The work takes on the shape of the layered contours of the Pit, and inverts this form creating a physical representation of the volume that exists only as void.

In Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the afternoon blast is a unique event. The blast serves as a reminder that gold is still present in the ground. GOLDEN VOID celebrates the process of mining this rich mineral by suspending thousands of “gold nuggets”, layered to embody the Super Pit’s stepped form. The “golden nuggets” appear to hover in mid-air, representing a moment after the blast where flecks of gold explode, creating a dazzling spectacle.