A Self-Drive Deep Dive into Koktokay’s No. 3 Mine Pit: Modern Xinjiang History in a Single Crater
One mine pit, half of modern Xinjiang’s history
In July 2025 I drove to Fuyun County and the town of Koktokay. I had come for Sacred Bell Mountain and the canyon, but a giant pit at the edge of town stopped me in my tracks. Locals call it the No. 3 Mine Pit. It is a spiral crater several hundred metres across and more than a hundred metres deep, as if the earth had lost an eye. The guide told me the rare metals pulled from this hole once went on the credit sheet for China’s early atomic and missile programs. I stood at the rim and looked down. The rock layers stepped down like the pages of an open book. In that moment I realised Xinjiang is not only scenery. Beneath it lies the memory of a nation.
This piece is about visiting Koktokay’s No. 3 Mine Pit by car. It is one of the most underrated stops on the northern loop, not far from Kanas and Hemu, easy to swing by on the way. I’ll take it in three parts: what it is, how to get there, and what to see.
Where it is and how to drive there
The No. 3 Pit sits in Koktokay town, Fuyun County, right next to the Koktokay National Geopark (the Sacred Bell Mountain canyon). From Urumqi take the G216 north through Fukang, the Wucaiwan (Colorful Bay) area, and Qiaokurte, then on to Fuyun and northeast. The whole drive is about 550 km, doable in a day if you leave Urumqi by eight in the morning and take the desert highway stretch steady. You can also come from Altay or Beitun, about two hours by car, which is the smarter approach if you are already up in the north doing Kanas.
The G216 up here is good tarmac but long, with the Wucaiwan blowout of colour near Fukang worth a photo stop if you have never seen the Danxia landforms. Fuel up before the final stretch; the gaps between stations thin out north of Fuyun. For the wider geopark, we wrote a Koktokay geopark guide and a granite canyon hiking guide; the pit and the canyon fit into a day and a half together.
Navigate straight to “Koktokay No. 3 Mine Pit” or “Ayiguzi Mine Tunnel.” The town is small and the signs are clear. Park at the scenic lot. It costs but it is easy, and that is the trade I want after a long drive. The lot is a short walk or shuttle from the rim, so wear shoes you don’t mind on gravel.
Why it earns a detour
This is one of the richest mineral veins known anywhere, with more species of mineral than almost any other single site. The awkward names, tantalum, niobium, lithium, beryllium, were shipped from here to the heart of the country and held up a whole defense industry. The mining has stopped, but the pit remains. Paired with the town’s geology museum and the Ayiguzi tunnel you can actually walk into, it is one of the few spots in China that blends industrial heritage with earth science. For families with kids, or anyone interested in history, it has more depth than yet another pretty mountain and lake.
The numbers help. Over its working life the pit produced dozens of the elements on the periodic table, a concentration found almost nowhere else. That is why geologists travel here from abroad. You don’t need to be a specialist to feel it, though. Standing at the rim, you are looking at a hole that the work of thousands of people opened, and the stuff they took out went into things most of us only read about.
I’ll be honest about the draw. A pit is not obviously photogenic next to a turquoise lake. But the story does something to you. You realise the remote town you drove through was, for a stretch of the 20th century, quietly central to the country’s fate. That reframing stays with you longer than a postcard. I have driven past prettier places and forgotten them by the next town. I have not forgotten this pit.
What to see, and how to see it
The viewing deck. A platform at the edge of town looks down over the whole spiral pit. The rock layers are clean and clear, and when the sun sits low the strata turn gorgeous. I suggest going in the evening. The western light hits the walls and the colour runs from ochre red to deep brown, like a history book on fire. From above, the spiral ramp the trucks once used is still visible carved into the rock, a quiet record of the industrial effort. Give it ten minutes of just looking; the scale does not land in the first glance.
The Ayiguzi Mine Tunnel. This was a real mining drift, and now a section is open for visitors to walk into. The lights come on and the veins in the rock glitter. It is cool down there, so bring a jacket even in July. I went down once. The feeling of “inside the earth” made the kids squeal and the adults go quiet. The walk is short and the floor is even, but it is enclosed, so if you dislike tight spaces you can skip it and still get the full story from the deck and the museum.
The geology museum. The town museum is small but it lays out the whole story of the pit, with a cabinet of mineral specimens you can finally put names to. See the museum first, then the tunnel, then the pit. The logic flows and the understanding deepens. The displays explain which metal went where, and suddenly the abstract “national defense” line becomes concrete objects in glass cases.
Sacred Bell Mountain canyon. A few kilometres from the pit is the Irtysh River canyon, where the granite monolith of Sacred Bell Mountain stands by the water and the boardwalk is an easy walk. The river here is the strange one that flows west, away from China’s other great rivers, and that fact alone makes the stop a small lesson. For canyon trail detail, the canyon guide goes deeper.
Altitude and health, don’t ignore them
Koktokay town sits around 1,200 metres. The pit and canyon are not high, and most people are fine. But head deeper into the hills and you reach 2,000 metres, so before going higher read our Xinjiang altitude health guide. I was fine in town; pushing into Sacred Bell Mountain I breathed a little harder, and slowing down fixed it. The tunnel itself is near sea-level feel in temperature, but the walk back up the steps can puff a newcomer, so pace it.
Sun is the other thing. At this latitude and altitude the UV is strong, and there is little shade on the open deck. A hat and sunscreen are not optional in summer. I learned that the hard way on a clear July afternoon and peeled for a week.
The best season is June through October. Summer is green, autumn turns the birch gold. For which month suits Xinjiang best, the best-time guide breaks it down month by month, and Koktokay’s autumn gold is worth a special trip. October can bring early snow on the higher ground, which closes nothing at the pit but makes the canyon walk crisp and spectacular if you dress for it.
Practical information, plan around it
Tickets. The pit, the tunnel, and the museum are usually sold as a combined ticket, with the price moving by season, roughly from tens to just over a hundred yuan. Check at the window for the exact figure. The tunnel is sometimes capped for crowd control, so go early in peak season. Buy the combo rather than piecemeal; the three together are the point, and separate tickets cost more for less.
Parking. The scenic lot charges but is proper. Don’t park on the wild ground; the town is small and spaces are not tight. On safe self-drive parking, we wrote navigation and parking notes; in town just follow them to a proper lot. If you are towing or in a tall vehicle, confirm the lot height before you commit, because some of the covered areas are low.
Food and stay. The town has farm stays and small hotels. The food is straightforward northern Xinjiang fare: noodles, mutton, and dairy. I ate at a family-run place for about 40 yuan a head and slept in town for the quiet. Fuyun county, twenty minutes south, has more choice and bigger hotels if you want a proper bed before the next long drive.
Itinerary. Pit plus museum plus tunnel is a half day. Add the Sacred Bell Mountain canyon walk and you have a full half day more, so a day and a half is about right. Stay in Koktokay town or Fuyun county. The town is quiet; the county is convenient. If your clock is tight, the pit and museum alone in three hours still repay the stop.
How to slot it into the northern loop
The No. 3 Pit fits best on the eastern line “Urumqi to Fuyun to Burqin to Kanas,” or as the close of an Altay loop. From the pit, head north to Burqin, then into Kanas. It is on the way, no detour. For how to play Burqin and Kanas, the navigation guide also covers the northern road network, and paired with this piece you can lay out a clean route.
A clean five-day sketch: day one Urumqi to Fuyun (550 km), day two the pit, museum, tunnel and canyon, overnight in Koktokay, day three north to Burqin and the Colorful Beach sunset, day four and five Kanas and Hemu. The pit costs you nothing in extra driving and gives the loop a brain as well as a beauty. If you are coming from Altay instead, do it in reverse and treat Fuyun as the last night before the long run south.
One pit taught me Xinjiang’s other face
Before Xinjiang, I thought it was only scenery. The No. 3 Pit showed me the ground here also holds a heavy story. Driving past, spend half a day and turn in. What you take away is not a photo. It is a felt sense of contribution and geology. When you pass Fuyun, don’t fix your eyes only on Kanas. Stop the car for this pit too.
I think back to the guide’s line about the credit sheet, and to the spiral ramp still cut into the rock. None of it asks for your attention the way a lake does. It rewards the attention you choose to give. Xinjiang is large, and what deserves a stop is not only lakes and mountains. Some of it is under your feet, waiting in a hole in the ground for someone to look down and wonder.