Future Memory
Future Memory
The Edge of Mine
Since the discovery of valuable metal minerals in the Tonopah area during the 1900s, the land has endured continuous erosion at the hands of mining companies, giving rise to a host of issues such as labor injustice and environmental pollution. Driven by the relentless pursuit of profit, these companies excavated large quantities of soil, leaving behind a landscape scarred by the remnants of extraction and accumulating countless pieces of rubble and abandoned infrastructure strewn around the mines. As mining companies departed, these fragments faded into obscurity and became mere relics of history. However, with the resurgence of interest in mining within the region, new companies are now seeking to reclaim this land and extract again.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing energy transition, this project aims to illuminate the fissures in both the land and collective memory caused by decades of mining extraction. These cracks are the mining cultural heritage that needs to be excavated and revealed, storing the pain brought by metal mining in the past and placing people’s hope for clean energy to repair the local ecologies. The project envisages a conceptual path to reconstruct memory and territory through a series of elements storing mining culture in the boundary of the lithium mine and the historic mining park. This endeavor seeks to strike a delicate balance between the extractive interests of capital and the endurance of the local inhabitants. Fragments of the past mining culture are reimagined, and the emerging presence of the new, adjacent lithium mine invite us to shape future memories at the mine’s edge.
Jiayin
Spatial Scales of Territorial Demarcation
According to the United States Geological Survey, the state ranks first in non-fuel mineral production.
There are lots of mining districts in this state and they are found in different time periods.
There are two hundred thousand abandoned mines and others are active mines.
Many of the most famous mining areas, such as tonopah and silver peak, are located near by Highway 95.
Vegetation
Historic Mine
Active Mine
Travel Route City
Reno
Tahoe Reno Industrial Center
Sliver Springs Yerington
Walker Lake
Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Tonopah Historic Mining Park
Silver Peak Goldfield
Miner’s Hall
Viewing Beach of Atomic Tests
Las Vegas
Spatial Scales of Territorial Demarcation
Higheway & Main Road River Travel Route City
Today,highway 95 provides access to several mines happening in close proximity.
Spatial Scales of Territorial Demarcation
While some are abandoned and kept as ruins, some are inaccessible due to heavy metal pollution, and some have been preserved as mining historic parks.
At the same time, new mines are emerging. The city of Tonopah concentrates old abandoned mines and prospections for future extraction.
Spatial Scales of
Territorial Demarcation
City Impression
The city has a rich mining history and was one of the wealthiest places in 1900. However, with the decline of the mining industry, Tonopah gradually became the “haunted city” in decline we know of today.
Timeline of Tonopah Mining History
The city has a rich mining history and was one of the wealthiest places in 1900. However, with the decline of the mining industry, Tonopah gradually became the “haunted city” in decline we know of today.
The Shadow of Mining Industry
However, mining´s economic benefits have many sides.
Since the discovery of valuable metal minerals in the Tonopah area during the 1900s, mining companies have extracted wealth but caused labor injustice and environmental pollution.
Driven by the relentless pursuit of profit, these companies overconsumed and polluted water, stripped native vegetation, and left literal mountains of waste and infrastructural ruins strewn around the mining sites. As mining companies departed, these fragments faded into obscurity and became mere relics of history. Little is known about these facts as the local mining culture has chosen to tell other stories.
Theme
The cultural heritage of mining needs to be excavated and revealed, narrating the pain caused by metal mining in the past, and placing people’s hopes for clean energy to repair the local ecologies and bring prosperity.
Site
Located northwest of Tonopah, in the Great Smoky Valley, the new lithium mine led by TCL and Blackrock Silver will be the major economic activity in the area for decades to come.
Conceptual Map
The area has some visible remnants from past mining activity, such as rubble scraps scattered across the hillside and abandoned infrastructure. Other remains are hidden underground, such as the intricate network of tunnels. These remains have been retained in space as cultural fragments, a network of artifacts, frozen in time, whose footprints are part of Tonopah’s mining identity and distinctive image for the visitor.
At the same time, lithium mining technologies are introducing new artefacts and functions on the land. The interplay between old and new reflect the process of humanization, the tension between the slow reclamation of land by nature and the aggressive extraction of new metals.
Future Memory
Aqueducts
In the process of mining and processing, huge amounts of waste will be generated. But not all of the waste is useless, and the park’s boundaries will recycle the rubble to thicken the separation with the world.
The towering walls are both a barrier between the mine and the outside world and a warning to visitors. This will help people realize the huge waste that mining brings.
Future Memory
At the same time, the wall plays the role of aqueduct. Water from the mountains is transported to lithium mines for lithium extraction. The water created by the altered topography will be purified and recycled before entering the city.
Future Memory
Mining Museum
The Future Mining Park first reveals itself through a Mining Museum. This is the fragment of memory that tells the stories of miners from different times
The Museum uses vr technology to show visitors the evolution of mining technology. In the proposed exhibition hall, corroded mining installations hang like giant sculptures, linking metal extraction, cultural expression and remembrance. It reflects the working memory of traditional miners. It also reflects the fuel consumption of traditional mining machines.
Above ground museum
VR Exhibition Section
Future Memory
When people walk to the platform outside the museum, they can see the lithium mining in the distance and the solar farm in the border. This shows the lithium mining company’s new direction of extraction. Instead of relying on oil, solar power promises more environmentally friendly mining.
The museum serves as a place to experience old underground mines so that the visitor can more fully feel the depression and anxiety of miners’ labor.
Axon
Future Memory
Wild Life Territory
But mining not only affected humans. The Future Mining Park also explores fragments of animal memory.
Here the ruins of mine hall are transformed into a wildlife territory. Animals once displaced by mining are now reclaiming its place in the remains of former constructions. At the same time, visitors can help sow seeds to restore the natural ecology of the mine.
Over time, wildlife will reclaim larger and larger grounds, gradually breaking the boundaries of the lithium mine. Plants will be seeded inside the boundary to absorb the heavy metals produced in the mining, thus reducing metal pollution
Wildlife Territory
---Wildlife return
---Ecological restoration
---Absorb heavy mental
Future Memory
Water Wheel
And then, it is water. Scarce and barely visible, water has been too damaged.
Overtime, a slow and incremental recycling takes place. Through solar power generation, the old mining wheel oxygenate water now, activating movement in the park. This project fragment gives visibility to water pollution, and the necessary steps to clean it up.
When visitors stand on the platform, they can see how the wheel, which once stopped spinning, turns under the power of solar panels again.
Future Memory
Fragments of past mining cultures are no longer seen as permanent objects. The Lithium rush demands we learn how to do better this time. The Future Mining Park reorganizes key spaces through constant transformation to keep the local culture alive and resit erasure.
Through continuous improvement and restoration, the discrete park fragments transform abandonment and destruction into a new place of learning and recovery.
