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Dig deep: Discover one of the biggest things (literally) that makes Utah unique

By Jessica Eyre www.Utahadventurer.Com - | May 13, 2011
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A view of the Bingham Canyon Mine, owned by Kennecott Utah Copper. The mine is the only man-made structure visible from space. It drops nearly 4,000 feet from the top of the mine to its bottom. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
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A view of the courtyard outside the visitors center of the Bingham Copper Mine, owned by Kennecott Utah Copper. On display is one of the tires used by a hauling truck, which weighs more than 10,000 pounds and is 12 feet 6 inches in diameter. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventurer
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Ella Roundy, 5, (left) and Grace Eyre, 5, look at one of the displays inside the visitors center at the Bingham Canyon Mine, owned by Kennecott Utah Copper. The center has many facts and displays detailing the process by which copper is mined. Jessica Eyre/Utah Adventuer

There are lots of things that make Utah unique: Fry sauce, the Best Snow on Earth, the Sundance Film Festival. But did you know that Utah is home to the only man-made structure that is visible from space?

That structure is the Bingham Canyon Mine owned by Kennecott Utah Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto.

There is a visitor’s center open to the public every day from April through October, weather permitting. A $5-per vehicle charge is paid at the entrance of the property — all of which goes straight to a variety of charities — and then a four-mile drive up to the top of the open pit.

The drive up is quite interesting. We passed large trucks carrying equipment, and looked out over the beautiful Salt Lake Valley. The kids were also excited to see huge trucks dumping their loads of ore.

Once at the top, there is a viewing area with coin-operated telescopes like on the top of the Empire State Building. Displays of old mining equipment such as iron buckets and rail cars plus one of the truck tires decorate the courtyard of the visitors center. The tire is quite a site.

A sign points out some of its features:

Tire size: 55/80R63 Steel Belted Radial Tubeless

Height: 12 feet, 6 inches

Diameter: 153 inches

Weight: 10,183 pounds

Tread width: 55 inches

Rim size: 63 inches

Tire pressure: 100 psi (pounds per square inch)

Tire life: one year (about 50,000 miles)

Approximate cost per tire: $25,000

Number of tires per truck: Six

That’s quite the tire.

It’s amazing to look at that tire up close, and then look down into the open pit and see those tires at work — the trucks look tiny.

The visitors center is like a small museum, with display cases of different types of ore and little models of what the mine has looked like over the past 100 years or so.

The highlight for me — the kids weren’t as interested, but behaved very well — was the 16-minute video on the history of the mine and the process of getting the copper and other byproducts out of the ground.

Without ever giving it much thought, I always just presumed there was a modern or mechanical method like panning for gold — shaking the rock through a sieve and the copper is left behind.

I wasn’t even close.

Traditional mining was too cost prohibitive for the copper found along the benches of the Oquirrh Mountains. The copper is found in very small quantities, so after it’s initial discovery, nothing was really done with it.

Then Daniel Jackling, a metallurgical engineer, and Robert Gemmell, a mining engineer, found that using a revolutionary open-pit mining method would make the mine profitable.

Other evolutions: Towns nearby Bingham Canyon where miners and their families resided at one point approached 20,000 in population (none of those towns exist today); ridges that circle the pit were once used as railway tracks that hauled the ore up and out of the mine until trucks started being used in the 1950s.

Inside the visitors center, the kids liked the model displays that show what types of things copper is used for: Construction, transportation, household products, communication items; Kennecott even played a part in the making of the 2002 Winter Olympic medals.

We spent about an hour at the mine, and while my kids may have been a little young to learn much from the exhibits, older kids could certainly get an interesting education.

Before you go, visit the website to print off some fun games and quizzes to do while you’re there.

 

Fun Facts about Copper and Bingham Canyon Mine

•On average, each person in America uses about 30 pounds of copper every year.

•A typical new home contains about 500 pounds of copper — found mostly in wiring, plumbing and brass fixtures.

•Kennecott produces nearly 25 percent of the copper produced in America. Gold and silver are byproducts of the mining process.

•The word “copper” comes from kyprios, the Greek word for the island of Cyprus, where ancient people mined copper.

•The first known use of copper was around 10,000 years ago.

•The largest electric shovel has a 56-cubic-yard dipper that scoops up approximately 98 tons of material in a single bite, a weight equivalent to about 50 automobiles.

•There are about 80 gigantic haul trucks operating in the mine. These trucks carry as much as 320 tons of material in a single trip.

• The fleet of haul trucks travel more than 10,000 miles a day at an average speed of 13 miles per hour.

• The elevation of the Bingham Canyon Mine drops from 8,040 feet above sea level to 4,390 feet above sea level.

Source: www.riotinto.com

Kennecott Utah Copper Visitors Center

Where: 12800 S. State Route 111

Directions: From Utah County, take I-15 northto Bangerter Highway. Follow the highway to 12600 South. Turn leftonto Herriman Main Street. Follow this road west toward the mine.Stay to the right when the road forks, and you’ll start travelingnorth. Look for the signs. The entrance is on your left (west sideof the road). If you hit 11800 South, you’ve gone too far.

Hours: Open daily, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; however carswill not be admitted later than 7 p.m.

Cost: Tax-deductible admission fees are $5 forcars, $25 for mini-tour buses and $50 for a bus. No motorcycles areallowed for safety reasons

Etc.: No reservations are necessary

Info: www.kennecott.com/visitors-center

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