Overburden is the term used in The El Chino Mine located near Silver City, New Mexico is an open-pit copper mine Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually (but not always) from an ore body, vein, or (coal) seam. Materials commonly recovered by mining include bauxite, coal... mining to describe material that lies above the area of economic interest. Ie, the dirt that lies above the Coal Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground either by underground mining, open-pit mining or strip mining. It is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. It is composed primarily of carbon and hydrocarbons, along with assorted other elements, including sulfur. Often associated with the... coal seam. Also known as 'waste'.