Utah’s Bingham Canyon Copper Open Pit Mine Touted as being the world’s largest man‐made excavation and one of the top producing copper mining operations in the world, this mining pit can be seen from earth’s orbit without magnification. The Bingham Canyon Mine is 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah and has been in operation since 1906. Nearly three‐quarters of a mile deep and approximately 3 miles wide, the pit covers nearly 2,000 acres. A company that has gone through several ownerships got its name from Robert Kennecott, an explorer and naturalist from Alaska. Kennecott holdings have included mines in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. By 1961, the Bingham Canyon operation expanded. This caused the closure and disincorporation of the City of Bingham County in 1971. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennecott_Utah_Copper. On April 10, 2013 at 11am, workers were evacuated from the mining operation. Ground probes and other equipment detected slumping of one of the slopes in the pit. According to the source below, 165 million tons of earth moved like an avalanche at speeds between 70 to 100 miles per hour. Buildings were affected and at the bottom of the pit, debris is nearly 200 feet deep. Thirteen hauler trucks, (see the size of one of the tires with the picture of the man next to one below) were buried. A fully loader hauler weighs 1.1 million pounds. The driver sits 18 feet above the ground. After the landslide, 16 earthquakes were set off in the region. It was the largest non‐volcanic landslide in history. Source: http://www.mining.com/bingham‐47835/ In 2014, the owners called Rio Tinto, an Australian‐British multinational consortium, announced that the company would continue mining operations at least until 2029. The reason was that the mine had produced the most copper in the history of mining and was capable of continuance. The mine at its peak operation provided 25% of the total U.S. copper production. To give you some idea what a copper mine can produce, in 2012 the Bingham Canyon Mine outputted “179,317 tons of copper, 279,200 ounces of gold, 2.4 million ounces of silver and 20 million pounds of molybdenum, a shiny metal that is used to strengthen steel.” Source: http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=56678368&itype=CMSID. Owners predicted that after the slide the operation would still output 50% of its former production. This photo program is of the Bingham Canyon Mine site prior to the landslide. You can see the results of the landslide in the above sources.

acuri.net John R. Vincenti Bingham Canyon Copper Kennecott Mine and Smelter