Bingham Canyon Mine

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For the former city at this location, see Bingham Canyon, Utah.

Bingham Canyon Mine

Mine in 2003

Location

Bingham Canyon Mine

Location Salt Lake County

State Utah

Country United States

40°31′23″N112°09′04″WCoordinates:
Coordinates
40°31′23″N 112°09′04″W

Production
 Products Copper

Type Open-pit

History

Discovered 1848

Opened 1906

Owner

Company Rio Tinto Group

Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine

U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark

Area 900 hectares

NRHP reference # 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 man-made excavation
in the world[4] and is considered to have produced more copper than any other mine in history –
more than 19 million tons.[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 0.6 miles (970 m) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres
(3.0 sq mi; 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]

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Landslides
o 1.2Environmental history
 2Geology
 3Recovery process
 4Operations
o 4.1Production
 5Environmental impact
o 5.11900–1909
o 5.21910–1979
o 5.31980–1989
o 5.41990–1999
o 5.52000–2014
 6In popular culture
 7See also
 8References
 9Further reading
 10External links

History[edit]
Minerals, in the form of copper ore, were first discovered in Bingham Canyon in 1848 by two
brothers, Sanford and Thomas Bingham, sons of Erastus Bingham, latter-day saint pioneers of
September 1847, who grazed their cattle there. They reported their find to their leader, Brigham
Young, who advised against pursuing mining operations because the survival and establishment
of settlements was of paramount importance at that time. The brothers applied themselves to
that purpose as directed and did not stake a claim. In 1850, the Bingham family went to settle
what is now Weber County, leaving the canyon still today known by their name.[7][8]
Bingham Canyon Mine, November 1942. Carr Fork Canyon as seen from "G" bridge.

It was not until September 17, 1863 that extraction of ore began and the potential of the canyon's
mineral resources began to be widely recognized. That was when George B. Ogilvie and 23
others "located the West Jordan claim", soon followed by the Vidette claim. At first, mining was
confined to placer gold, lead-silver and copper-gold. Porphyry copper required processing and a
railroad, which reached the canyon in 1873.[9]:61–62[10]
Enos Andrew Wall started working claims in 1887. His extensive tunnels and test pits, on his 200
acres, indicated ore containing 2% copper.[9]:38,64–65
The canyon's 19th Century mines were relatively small, and it wasn't until the end of the century
that very large-scale exploitation of the canyon's ore bodies began to develop with open-pit
mining. In 1896, Samuel Newhouse and Thomas Weir acquired the Highland Boy Mine, which
was rich in copper, silver and gold. Together they formed the Utah Consolidated Gold Mines, Ltd.
with English investors. They then formed the Boston Consolidated Gold and Copper Co., Ltd., for
development of low-grade copper ore adjacent to the Utah Copper Company site.[9]:93–94
Another significant development took place in 1903, when Daniel C. Jackling and Enos A. Wall
organized the Utah Copper Company. Utah Copper immediately began construction of a pilot mill
at Copperton,[9] just beyond the mouth of the canyon, and the company actually started mining in
1906.[10]
The success of Utah Copper in mining the huge but low-grade porphyry copper type ore body at
Bingham Canyon was based on Jacklin's 1904 decision to use open-pit mining, steam shovels
and the railroad. The mine became a showplace for "railroad-pit operations" and the industrial
complex defined by the mine and the ASARCO smelting operation made it the "largest industrial
mining complex in the world" by 1912.[9]:168–170
Utah Copper and Boston Consolidated merged after their separate surface operations
approached each other in 1906. The Kennecott Copper Corporation, established to operate
mines in Kennecott, Alaska, purchased a 25 percent financial interest in Utah Copper in 1915,
which they increased to 75 percent in 1923.[9]:82,151
Bingham's Canyon mine expanded rapidly, and by the 1920s the region was a beehive of
activity. Some 15,000 people of widely varying ethnicity lived in the canyon, in large residential
communities constructed on the steep canyon walls. The population declined rapidly as mining
techniques improved, and several of the mining camps were swallowed up by the ever-
expanding mine. By 1980, when Lark was dismantled, only Copperton, at the mouth of Bingham
Canyon and with a population of 800, remained.
The 21 separate mining operations in existence by 1911 were consolidated into two in 1970:
Kennecott and The Anaconda Minerals Company. In 1985 open-pit mining operations were
halted by Kennecott's Utah Copper. In 1986, Kennecott discovered gold in nearby Barney's
Canyon.[10]

The Bingham Canyon Mine, aerial photograph taken June 2018

KCC was purchased by Sohio in 1981 and the mine reopened in 1987 after BP Minerals
purchased the assets. In 1989 the Rio Tinto Groupacquired the asset, who modernized the mine,
mill and smelter.[9]:9
The open-pit owners replaced an antiquated 1000-car railroad with conveyor belts and pipelines
for transporting the ore and waste, which reduced costs by nearly 30% and returned the
operation to profitability.[11]
Landslides[edit]

Bingham Canyon Mine satellite images before (left, July 20, 2011) and after (right, May 2, 2013) a landslide
on April 20, 2013

At 9:30 pm on April 10, 2013, a landslide occurred at the mine. Around 2.3–2.5 billion cubic feet
(65×106–70×106 m3) of dirt and rock thundered down the side of the pit.[12] On the basis that the
mine's steep walls made it a high risk for landslides, an interferometric radar system had been
previously installed to monitor the ground's stability. As a result of warnings produced by this
system, mining operations had been shut down the previous day in anticipation of the slide and
there were no injuries.[13] The massive slide was expected to cut production of mined copper by
100,000 tonnes (110,000 short tons).[14] A second slide caused an evacuation of 100 workers on
September 11, 2013.[15]
Environmental history[edit]
According to environmental specialists,[who?] the mine has had adverse environmental effects on
the habitats of fish and wild animals as well as air and water pollution, creating health hazards to
the surrounding public.[16] Different federal agencies concerned with environmental conservation
have used strict legal rules to pressure the subsidiary of Kennecott copper mine to comply with
environmental regulations. Since the early 1990s, Kennecott has spent more than $400 million
on clean up efforts on the affected areas to avoid regulatory laws that would have placed them
on the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL).[17]
The figure below shows a comparison of two satellite images used to identify the changes in the
Bingham Canyon Mine between 1985 and 2016 [1] [18]

Geology[edit]
Cross-section through open pit, showing ore zonation

Geologic map showing bedrock geology and alteration zones, USGS.

The Bingham Canyon ore deposits occur in the Bingham nappe. They are a porphyry copper
deposit, formed by a quartz monzonite porphyry intruded into sedimentary rocks. They exhibit a
concentric alteration pattern and mineralogic zonation around the Bingham stock. These zones
include a central core containing magnetite, followed by "a molybdenite zone low in copper,
a bornite-chalcopyrite-gold higher grade copper zone, a pyrite-chalcopyrite zone, a pyrite zone,
and an outermost lead-zinc zone."[10]:E1,E8
Structurally, Late Paleozoic rocks were thrust faulted over the Precambrian craton during
the Cretaceous Sevier orogeny. These rocks were later intruded and altered in
the Tertiary by granitoid rocks. This igneous event was the source of deposition of gold, silver
and other base metals.[10]:E4
Copper and molybdenum sulfide minerals are dispersed in the intruded stock and in the adjoining
carbonate sedimentary skarns. The main stratigraphic rocks in Bingham Canyon are
Upper Pennsylvanian sandstones, quartzites, and limestonesknown as the Bingham
Mine Formation in the Oquirrh Group. The central porphyry ores formed
from mantle hydrothermal circulation while the outer vein and deposits in the sedimentary rocks
formed at lower temperature when magmatic and meteoric waters mixed.[10]

Recovery process[edit]
The extracted ore is treated at the Kennecott smelter at nearby Magna, Utah. The ore is run
through a concentrator, where huge grinding mills reduce it to the consistency of face
powder.[19] Flotation then separates the gangue from the metalliferous particles, which float off as
a 28-percent concentrate of copper along with lesser amounts
of silver, gold, lead, molybdenum, platinum and palladium. A selective flotation step separates
the molybdenite (molybdenum disulfide) from the chalcopyrite.
The filtered concentrate slurry is piped 17 miles (27 km) to the smelter, where it is dried, and then
injected along with oxygen into a flash smelting furnace to oxidize the iron and sulfur. The
oxidized iron is skimmed off, while the sulfur dioxide gas is captured and sent to an on-site acid
plant for conversion to valuable sulfuric acid - a million tons of it each year.
Left behind is a molten copper sulfide called matte. The 70-percent-copper matte is water-
quenched to form a sand-like solid, then injected, with oxygen, into a flash-converting furnace
that produces molten, 98.6-percent-pure copper. This copper is then cast into 700-pound
(320 kg) anode plates and shipped by rail to the refinery.
At the refinery, the anode plates are pressed flat and interleaved with stainless
steel cathode blanks. Automated robotic vehicles place the prepared anodes in cells containing
an acidic electrolyte. When the cells are electrified, the anodes slowly dissolve, freeing copper
ions that are deposited on the cathode as 99.99-percent-pure copper.
Impurities and precious metals settle to the bottom of the electrolytic cells as anode slimes.
A chlorination leaching process recovers the gold and silver, which is melted in induction
furnaces.

Operations[edit]

Utah Copper Co. Mill, Bingham Canyon, circa 1910

Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine is the largest artificially made excavation in the world, and
is visible to the naked eye from an orbiting space shuttle.[20][21][22] Employing some 2,000 workers,
450,000 short tons (400,000 long tons; 410,000 t) of material are removed from the mine daily.
Electric shovels can carry up to 56 cubic yards (43 m3) or 98 short tons (88 long tons; 89 t) of ore
in a single scoop. Ore is loaded into a fleet of 64 large dump trucks which each carry 255 short
tons (228 long tons; 231 t) of ore at a time; the trucks themselves cost about $3 million each.
There is a five-mile (8 km) series of conveyors that take ore to
the Copperton concentrator and flotation plant. The longest conveyor is 3 miles (4.8 km) long.[23]
As of 2010, Kennecott Utah Copper was the second largest copper producer in the US, and
provided about 13-18% percent of the U.S.'s copper needs.[20][21] It is one of the top producing
copper mines in the world with production at more than 18.7 million short tons (16.7 million long
tons; 17.0 Mt). Every year, Kennecott produces approximately 300 thousand short tons (272 kt or
268 thousand long tons) of copper, along with 400 thousand troy ounces (13.7 short tons 12.4
tonnes, or 12.2 long tons) of gold, 4 million troy ounces (124 tonnes, 137 short tons or 122 long
tons) of silver, about 10 thousand short tons (9,100 tonnes or 8,900 long tons) of
molybdenum,[20] and about a million short tons (910 kt or 890 thousand long tons) of sulfuric acid,
a by-product of the smelting process.[22] Rio Tinto purchased Kennecott Utah Copper in 1989 and
has invested about $2 billion in the modernization of KUC's operations.
The current mine plan will expire in 2019. Rio Tinto has been studying a plan to extend the open
pit 1,000 feet (305 m) southward, which would extend the life of the mine into the mid-2030s. The
plan has been contingent on approval by the Rio Tinto board of directors and approximately 25
required environmental permits.[24]
Production[edit]
Bingham Canyon has proven to be one of the world's most productive mines. As of 2004, its ore
yielded more than 17 million tons (15.4 Mt) of copper, 23 million ounces (715 t) of gold, 190
million ounces (5,900 t) of silver, and 850 million pounds (386 kt) of molybdenum. The value of
the resources extracted from the Bingham Canyon Mine is greater than the Comstock
Lode, Klondike, and California gold rush mining regions combined. Mines in
Chile, Indonesia, Arizona, and New Mexico now[when?] exceed Bingham Canyon's annual
production rate. High molybdenum prices in 2005 made the molybdenum produced at Bingham
Canyon in that year worth more than the copper.[25] The value of metals produced in 2006 at
Bingham Canyon was US$1.8 billion.[26]

Environmental impact[edit]
In 1990, homes that had been built on former flood plains were discovered to be contaminated
with high levels of lead and arsenic.[27] Activities to clean up 100 years of accumulated impacts
began in the 1990s, under state Utah Department of Environmental Quality and federal oversight
and are ongoing.[28]
The EPA lists "Kennecott South Zone/Bingham" on its superfund webpage, after it was proposed
to be listed as a superfund site in 1994. The South Zone includes the Bingham Mining District in
the Oquirrh Mountains, about 25 mi (40 km) southwest of Salt Lake City, the open pit, waste rock
dumps, Copperton Mill and other historic sites. The company avoided regulatory issues of being
on the NPL by voluntarily cleaning up the contaminated lands, the Superfund Alternative
Approach. The listing proposal was withdrawn in 2008.[29][30] More than 25 million tons of mining
wastes have been removed; sludge with elevated sulfate concentrations was consolidated and
capped on site.[citation needed]
1900–1909[edit]
By 1904, there were three large copper smelters and one lead smelter in the Salt Lake valley.
The sulfur dioxide gas emissions from the smokestacks caused significant crop damage to
neighboring crops. During the 1904-1905 winter, the farmers gathered together and decided to
file suit against the smelters in the United States District Court of Utah.[31] In 1906, Federal
Court Judge Marshall ruled that the smelters could not smelt ores containing more than 10%
sulfur,[32] effectively closing all of the aforementioned smelters.