Our 4th theme of our trip to Northern Utah was Geology. We had visited the copper mine that sits on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, when our daughter Jodi was 12 years old. At that time it was called Kennicott Copper Mine. In 1906, the Alaskan mining company, Kennicott, bought the rights to Bingham Canyon mine and began open pit mining. Rio Tinto became the mine owner in 1989.

When we were here in the 1990s, it was 6 dollars a vehicle and you drove yourself to the view point. Today, you make a reservation to take the shuttle bus, to the mine’s viewpoint via a shuttle bus. It departs every 30 minutes from the visitor center. During the 15 minute ride, we watched a movie about the history and operations of the mine.

The bus drives up the side of the mountain which gave us great views of the Salt Lake Valley

The shuttle bus drops you off at the mine view point, which has two levels. We soon realized how large the equipment was as the informational area is displayed in an old excavator scoop and the dump truck tire was HUGE.

The lower level of the viewing area had more displays about the Rio Tinto history.

John, who was a mine worker, was on the visitor platform to answer questions and we had alot of questions!!

John told us that in April 2013, a landslide went down the north eastern side of the mine. It destroyed the visitor center as well as 10% of the mine’s equipment. The mine has seismic equipment that helped predicted the slide so preparations were started 2 months before the slide actually occurred. The slide was massive as it covered 90 acres, with 144 million tons of earth displaced.

You can see the slides path, as well as a power pole that was displaced by the slide. It was easier to leave it than recover it.

We stood in an old bucket shovel that was bent in the slide and could no longer be used. What a cool display.

These type of shovels have been replaced by new shovels that weigh 2000 tons and can gather 120 tons of dirt with each sccoop. WOW!! There are currently 8 shovels operating in the mine.

Rio Tinto has put together amazing displays using equipment that has been replaced. There is the dump truck bed used as shade for the picnic area. It was massive!! The newer version of the excavator blade, made Jodi look small.

Copper deposits were discovered in 1847 by the Bingham brothers who were area cattle and horse ranchers. The area was originally named Bingham’s Herd House. Active mining did not begin until the 1860s when the area became known as the Bingham Canyon Mine. There was an example of what the early mine looked like.

The mine is currently 3/4 of a mile deep, 2.5 miles wide, and covers 1900 acres. We could not see the bottom of the mine, but there is a small lake where water pools and is continuously pumped out. At the bottom of the mine a new phase of mining has developed, with actual mine shafts rather than open pit.

The lower viewing deck had some pretty amazing views.

To help prevent landslides, the mine is terraced.

Large excavators are used to get an area ready for terracing. They drive right up to the edge…yikes

Water trucks are used for dust control. Work never stops with most workers working a 14 days on, 14 days off schedule. Workers are not allowed to listen to the radio or be on their phones during their shift, so they can hear instructions from the mine command center.

Prior to the use of dump trucks, a 1000 car train was used. The transition to dump trucks has improved the mine’s efficiency. They are the size of a 2400 sq foot house and cost 5 million dollars each. There is a fleet of 120 trucks and they operate in 12 hour shifts with 60-65 trucks in service during a shift. It takes 2 hours to complete a round trip to pick up and deliver a load of ore. They make the maintenance truck look small

The dump trucks take the ore to a deposit site.

There are several deposit sites in the mine

The mined ore is then transported by conveyor belt for processing. It is ground up, mixed with liquid, separated, and resolidified. This process produces 99.9% pure copper. The rock trailings come out of the process so clean that they are used in the Great Salt Lake for erosion prevention.

From it’s humble beginnings as the Bingham Mine, the area now produces 268 thousand tons of copper annually which is 18% of the copper used in the US each year.

The mined ore also contains gold, silver, and molybdenum which helps in the production of steel. Each year the mine produces 12 tons of gold, 122 tons of silver, and 8900 tons of molybdenum.

Rio Tinto mine was a great way to start off our day of Geology. After a quick lunch, we were off to our second Geology adventure.