Location | |
---|---|
Location | Salt Lake County |
State | Utah |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 40°31′23″N 112°09′04″W / 40.523°N 112.151°W |
Production | |
Products | Copper |
Type | Open-pit |
History | |
Discovered | 1848 |
Opened | 1906 |
Owner | |
Company | Rio Tinto Group |
Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine | |
Area | 900 hectares |
NRHP reference No. | 66000736 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 13, 1966[1] |
Designated NHL | November 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]