What is the biggest copper mine in Utah?
Kennecott Utah Copper Mine
The Kennecott Utah Copper Mine, also known as the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine, is the largest and richest copper mine in history with over 110 years of open pit mining; it has produced more copper than any other mine in history!
Who owns the copper mine in Salt Lake City?
Rio Tinto Group
The mine is the largest man-made excavation, and deepest open-pit mine in the world, which is considered to have produced more copper than any other mine in history – more than 19 million tons. The mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian multinational corporation.
Where is the Kennecott copper mine located?
Bingham Canyon Mine
Kennecott Utah Copper LLC (KUC), a division of Rio Tinto Group, is a mining, smelting, and refining company. Its corporate headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah. Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world in Bingham Canyon, Salt Lake County, Utah.
Can you tour the Kennecott Copper Mine?
The Visitor Experience is open 8:30am to 3:00pm, 7 days a week. Shuttles run every 30 minutes. The last shuttle departs at 3:00pm and returns by 4:30pm. Reservations to visit the Bingham Canyon Mine can be made online.
Where is the deepest pit in Utah?
Bingham Canyon mine
Bingham Canyon mine located south-west of Salt Lake City, Utah, US, is the deepest open pit mine in the world. The Bingham Canyon pit is more than 1.2km deep and approximately four kilometres wide.
How deep is the Bingham Canyon copper mine?
The Bingham Canyon Mine is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, measuring more than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) wide and 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) deep. Located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, the mine is a major producer of copper, gold, silver, and molybednum.
How is copper mined in Utah?
Utah Copper started bulk mining the low-grade copper ore from the monzonite in the bottom of the canyon in 1904 by underground block caving methods. American Smelting & Refining Company, another Guggenheim-backed company, agreed to build a large smelter to process the copper concentrate from the two mills.
What happened to Kennecott copper Company?
Kennecott Corporation, the world’s leader in copper output throughout most of the 20th century, had by 1997 ceased to exist as a separate entity. That year it was divided into a group of wholly owned subsidiaries of the British metals and mining company Rio Tinto plc.
What is the biggest copper mine in the world?
The Escondida mine
The Escondida mine in Chile is the world’s largest copper mine based on capacity, with a capacity of some 1.5 million metric tons. Escondida is owned by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, and Japan Escondida.
Why is Bingham Canyon yellow?
During heavy rains, these would turn into jetties rising from the collected pool of water. Smithson designed the collected pool of water at the bottom as the most striking color element in the pit because it would be bright yellow due to the toxic runoff, or acid rock drainage (also known as yellow boy).