As popular practice in the 20th century, mining the surface entailed " removing ore from opencuts by hand." Divergent from the underground milling process, the surface mine was excavated from the exterior, located at its point of enclosure. This practice of surface mining involved a tri-partite process: (1) removing the overburden[crust of overlaying soil and rock]; (2) extracting the mineral deposit [usually ore];

and (3) refilling the surface with the removed overburden. Interestingly, the concept of surface mining is nothing less than a self-enclosed cycle, one corresponding directly to architectural form. Once the mineral deposit is extracted from the surface membrane, the removed overlaying rock is piled over the surface once more. The only difference between the beginning form (surface mine0) and its final state (mine1) is the extraction of the

mineral deposit. The presence of the two states remains pivotal to the theory of the architectural surface mine as does the varying meanings of the mineral deposit itself. The surface mine is a theoretical condition of architecture where there is no distinction between side, geometry, or unit; surface becomes both monumental to the point of inescapability yet essential to its creation.