Bingham Canyon Mine

Bingham Canyon Mine
A more than two-mile wide canyon of terraced mountains
Mine in 2003
Location
Bingham Canyon Mine is located in Utah
Bingham Canyon Mine
Bingham Canyon Mine
LocationSalt Lake County
StateUtah
CountryUnited States
Coordinates40°31′23″N 112°09′04″W / 40.523°N 112.151°W / 40.523; -112.151
Production
ProductsCopper
TypeOpen-pit
History
Discovered1848
Opened1906 (1906)
Owner
CompanyRio Tinto Group
Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine
Bingham Canyon Mine is located in Utah
Bingham Canyon Mine
Area900 hectares
NRHP reference No.66000736
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 13, 1966[1]
Designated NHLNovember 13, 1966[2]

The Bingham Canyon Mine, more commonly known as Kennecott Copper Mine among locals,[3] is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine is the largest human-made excavation, and deepest open-pit mine in the world,[4][5] which is considered to have produced more copper than any other mine in history – more than 19,000,000 short tons (17,000,000 long tons; 17,000,000 t).[5] The mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian multinational corporation. The copper operations at Bingham Canyon Mine are managed through Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation which operates the mine, a concentrator plant, a smelter, and a refinery. The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit over 0.75 miles (1,210 m) deep,[5] 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres (3.0 sq mi; 770 ha; 7.7 km2). It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 under the name Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine.[2] The mine experienced a massive landslide in April 2013 and a smaller slide in September 2013.[6]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved July 12, 2008.
  3. ^ Mcfarland, Sheena. "Kennecott Copper Mine recovering faster than predicted". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  4. ^ Lee, Jasen. "Kennecott laying off 200 workers". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c "Rio Tinto's Kennecott wins clean air lawsuit in the US | MINING.com". MINING.com. June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  6. ^ Second landslide hits Rio's Bingham Canyon mine, 100 workers evacuated Archived September 27, 2013, at the Wayback Machine September 16, 2013