Bingham Canyon Mine

Bingham Canyon Mine

We finally visited Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine. You can’t miss it from where we live. It’s the only mountain that is yellowish, golden-looking with a flat top. My curiosity finally got the best of me; we decided to venture out to see what it was all about.

It is known as “The Richest Hole on Earth” as it produces copper, metal, gold silver and molybdenum. It has produced more copper than any other mine in history. And it still contains enough copper to last through the next century, based on 150,000 tons of copper ore being extracted per day.

The mine is considered as a National Historic Landmark since 1966. It began operations in 1906. The mine is so big that it can be seen by the space shuttle astronauts as they pass over the United States. It is a pit more than 3/4 mile deep and 2.5 miles wide, thus making it the largest man-made excavation in the world. Also, if you were to stretch out all the roads in the open pit mine, you’d have 500 miles of roadway, enough to reach from Salt Lake City to Denver.

In the pictures below you will see Sophie standing next to a very large tire. The tires go on a huge truck that hauls the ore. These trucks are larger than many houses and weigh more than a jumbo jet. Each tire costs up to $26,000 and lasts 9 months -- there are 6 tires total on a truck.

There you go! More than you probably ever wanted to know.

Drive up to Visitors Center

12 feet, 6 inches high, weighs over 10,000 lbs.

Bingham Canyon

By 2015, the mine will be 500 feet deeper than it is now.

The first known use of copper dates back 10,000 years ago.

To make all the pennies, nickels, dimes & quarters in 1999, 

the US Mint used approx 36,000 tons of  copper.

It takes about 15 diff minerals to make a car, 35 to make a TV, 

30 to make a computer & as many as 42 to make a telephone.