A giant excavator (L) and a conveyor belt system ferrying topsoil stand at the Welzow Sued open-pit lignite coal mine on August 26, 2013 near Welzow, Germany. Welzow Sued, operated by Vattenfall, is among the last active open-pit mines in a region known as the Lausitzer Seenland, where dozens of former mines have been turned into lakes. In a development project initiated by state government, other nearby former open-pit mines that once evoked a lunar landscape are being turned into lakes in a long-term rejuvenation effort that is also intended to make the area a viable tourist destination. Mineral residue in the mines, however, is proving a difficult stumbling block that is making many of the new lakes too acidic to sustain marine life in the short term.
{"Image ImageDescription": "WELZOW, GERMANY - AUGUST 26:  A giant excavator (L) and a conveyor belt system ferrying topsoil stand at the Welzow Sued open-pit lignite coal mine on August 26, 2013 near Welzow, Germany. Welzow Sued, operated by Vattenfall, is among the last active open-pit mines in a region known as the Lausitzer Seenland, where dozens of former mines have been turned into lakes. In a development project initiated by state government, other nearby former open-pit mines that once evoked a lunar landscape are being turned into lakes in a long-term rejuvenation effort that is also intended to make the area a viable tourist destination. Mineral residue in the mines, however, is proving a difficult stumbling block that is making many of the new lakes too acidic to sustain marine life in the short term.  (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)", "Image Copyright": "2013 Getty Images"}