Facilities at Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

Utah: Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine (largest open pit mine in the world actually the largest man made hole in the world) located 25-miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

May 29, 2007.

We spent the night with Cabella's I-15 exit 287 Lehi, UT about 25-miles south of Salt Lake City. Free with a dump station!

We stopped in this area so that I could visit Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine. Kennecott Utah Copper's Bingham Canyon Mine is one of Utah's most popular tourist attractions. There is a Visitors Center inside the mine that features informative exhibits and videos. Outside, from a viewing area, you can observe the operations of the world's first open pit copper mine.

Known as "The Richest Hole on Earth," this gigantic operation has yielded more than 17 million tons of copper metal, as well as vast quantities of gold, silver and molybdenum. It is the largest man-made excavation in the world.

Since open-pit mining began in 1906, more than 7 billion tons of material have been removed, creating a pit more than 3/4 of a mile deep and 2.5 miles wide. To put this in perspective the world's tallest building, the Sears Tower, 1454' tall, would reach only half way up the mine.

The mine was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966 by the United States Department of the Interior and in 1972 by the National Park Service.

Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

These two trucks are transporting overburden (waste rock) out of the mine.

Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

This is the Concentrating facility. That 5-mile conveyor belt from the "in-pit-crusher" ends at this building.

The "in-pit-crusher" reduced ore bearing rock to pieces no larger than basket balls. When these basket ball size rocks reach this building they are fed into huge cylinders filled with massive steel rollers. In this cylinder the ore, which contains only 0.6% copper, is mixed with water and ground to a consistency of face powder. Then through a flotation process, the ore is "concentrated" to 28% copper by removing unwanted materials.

Three products come out of this process:

1. The concentrated copper (silver, gold & molybdenum) and

2. A valuable by-product, molybdenum, is recovered and sold to steel manufacturers as a hardening agent.

3. The unwanted material (crushed ore that remains after the valuable metals have been removed). This is called tailings.

The unwanted material (tailings) is transported, as a slurry, in another pipe to a $500-million tailings impoundment around 15-miles from the mine.

The concentrated copper is transported, as a slurry, 17-miles through a large pipeline to the smelter located near the Great Salt Lake where I-80 and SR 201 intersect.

Smelter for Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

Smelter for Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

The 28% copper concentrate is heated to a molten state in this smelter. Additional impurities (primarily iron and sulfur) are removed producing 98% copper that is poured into forms called "annodes".

All smelting processes, at one time, would belch terrible gasses into the atmosphere --- causing bad problems. New regulations, require smelters to trap and treat those gasses.

Sulfuric acid from Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

Sulfuric acid is one of the main things removed in this "scrubbing" process. Kennecott now sells this sulfuric acid to industry. These are tanker cars filled with sulfuric acid. Can you imagine that this was once belched into the atmosphere as a normal occurance?

Refining-facility at Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

The copper-anodes produced during the smelting process are transported to this "refining-facility" next door. The anodes are subjected to an electrolytic process where the copper is refined to a purity of 99.99%. During this process, precious metals such as gold and silver are also recovered or separated.

The finished copper "cathodes" are then shipped to industrial users who will manufacture copper sheeting and wire, as well as other copper, brass and bronze consumer products.

The gold and silver and other trace metals are also recovered and sold as well.

Remember that Bingham Canyon's ore contains an average of only 0.6% copper. It takes a ton of ore to produce 12-pounds of copper.

Yet Kennecott Utah Copper produces approximately 320,000 tons of refined copper annually plus significant quantities of molybdenum (a metal used to strengthen steel), gold and silver. The numbers are staggering, as is that hole in the ground.

Great Salt Lake State Park Marina

On the Great Salt Lake, across I-80 from the smelter, is the Great Salt Lake State Park Marina.

Power glider along the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake at Great Salt Lake State Park

We were looking for birds in the Great Salt Lake State Park but this must have been the wrong time of year. Instead Joyce took this picture of a power glider motoring aling the shoreline scarcely 10-feet above the water.

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Until next time remember how good life is.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix