Curving across a landscape colored in chartreuse and bronze, a strange arc of squiggles looks like the work of some very confused burrowing animal. This curious, maze-like feature in East Russia was, however, created by humans and their machines. The site is part of the sprawling Kuranakh ore field, which stretches nearly 600 square miles and represents one of the country’s largest gold deposits. Mining operations in the area, located in the Central Aldan District in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), have been ongoing since the deposit’s discovery in 1947….
