The Muruntau gold mine, located in the Qizilqum (aka Kyzyl-Kum) desert in Uzbekistan, is the world’s biggest open-cast gold mine. Discovered in 1958, surface mining started in 1967 and dug the giant kilometers-wide hole that the mine is today. Owned and operated by Uzbekistan’s state Navoi Mining & Metallurgy Kombinat (NMMC), it is also going…