In time: the worlds biggest mines Mining Technology
1880s Malakoff Diggins, US. During the gold rush in California in the second half of the 19 th century, Malakoff Diggins was the biggest hydraulic mine in the world. Operated by the North Bloomfield Gravel Mining Company, the mine had a very short life, after a court injunction stopped miners from dumping tailings in the Yuba River, effectively stopping operations.