Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine

- Key facts
- Positives
- Challenges
- Impacts of mineral processing
- Environmental concerns and how they are adressed
- Community wellbeing

Key facts
- Located in Utah, USA
- Largest copper mine in US
- Uk’s Rio Tinto Group bought the mine in 1989 and has invested more than $2.5
billion in modernising the mine and addressing environmental concerns
Positives
- Employs 2000 workers
- Value of metals produced annually exceeds $1.8 billion
- Since opening in 1906, produced more copper than any other in history – over 19
million tonnes
Challenges:
- Presents the challenge of mining in a mountainous area (geology)
- In 2013, there were massive landslides - the largest non-volcanic landslides ever
recorded.
- However, ground probes and radar monitoring equipment detected slope
deformation increasing five-fold, leading to the evacuation of the workers and
meaning that there were no injuries of fatalities.
Environmental Impacts of Mineral Extraction/Mining
- Disrupts the landscape
- Removes vegetation and topsoil
- Contaminates air with dust and toxic substances
- Causes toxic compounds in mine tailings to percolate into groundwater
Impacts of Mineral Processing
 - Copper ores tend to have under 1% of copper meaning large quantities of rock
must be dug up and processed
- Leads to large amounts tailings (the materials left over after extracting the
valuable mineral from the ore)
- If tailings not covered and stabilised, dust and water leaching through the waste
can carry toxic materials into the environment
- TMFs (Tailings Management Facilities) are used to solve this issue, which are
ways of storing the tailings safely
- Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine send tailings through pipeline to a tailings
impoundment where it is stored and managed
Restoration and Rehabilitation
- Becoming more common but very expensive
- Success depends on the characteristics of the site, including the type of mineral
being mined and quantity of the material removed
- Also depends on political conditions in the country/region such as the
environmental regulations and the extent to which they are enforced

Managing the impacts of copper mining

Impact
Dust emitted from open pit blasting and
trucks carrying ore, materials, tailings
Land significantly changed
Tailings from processing are impounded
in tailings dams
Management
Water sprayed on mine sites and roads to
suppress the dust (recyclable water if
possible)
Topsoil removed from mining reused later
in rehabilitation, with landforms
recontoured to resemble the natural
landscape
Tailings dams can eventually be covered
with soil and clay and revegetated

Sustainability Issues with copper extraction, trade and processing

- Often economically sensible e.g. copper recycling is now the norm and uses only
15% of the energy required to extract and purify copper from the ore
- Bulk transport used to improve efficiency
- Higher emphasis on environment stewardship, energy conservation and health
and safety
Community and well-being
- Like in Namibia, the Rio Tinto Group conceived the daybreak residential
community in South Jordan, Utah to serve the mine, incorporating quality
education, housing, and a vibrant local economy