User:Jhneely/Mponeng
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Mponeng is a gold mine near Carltonville, South Africa that is now the deepest mine in the world.[1] In early February 2009, Mponeng's owner, AngloGold Ashanti announced that the Below 120 deepening project had surpassed the 3,777 m record held by the neighboring Savuka mine since 1991.
Mponeng is home to an organism that is the only species known to be alone in its ecosystem. Desulforudis audaxviator is a bacterium, which lives in depths from 1.5 km to 3 km below the Earth's surface in the groundwater.
The name comes from a quotation from Jules Verne's novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. The hero, Professor Lidenbrock, finds a secret inscription in Latin that reads: Descende, audax viator, et terrestre centrum attinges (Descend, bold traveller, and you will attain the center of the Earth).[1]
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