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Bingham Copper Mine

The bingham copper mine is one of the largest mines in the United States and this mine is located at the salt lake city, the Utah state. The mine was founded in 1904 by a private investor. The Bingham mine is a very large open pit mine and the main activities carried around in this mine include the extraction of large deposits of copper. The mine is owned by the Rio Tinto ltd - a company that has its headquarters in the United Kingdom. Rio Tinto group is an international mining and exploration cooperation that is widely known in the mining industry.

The copper mining operations are headed by a company called the Kennectott Utah Copper Corporation. The company is charged by Rio Tinto group to operate some areas of the mine activities and these are the smelter, the concentrator plant and the refinery. Since inception this company has actively been involved in the mining activities for Rio Tinto. The mine is measured to be 1.2 km deep and 4 km wide and covers a whole 7.7 square kilometer of land. According to the US Utah state mining information it has been named as the world’s largest manmade pit and has been designated as a landmark by the National Historic Landmark, which was in 1966. Due to this it was later renamed to Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine.

Mineral deposit here was first discovered in the year 1850 but the real extraction process started thirteen years later. At the initial stages there were numerous challenges that were due to the area surroundings. The pit is located in a hilly terrain which imposed many challenges to the miners, however in 1873 a railway reached the Canyon easing transportation processes. Like any other business the mining activities started at a very slow pace, however plans to step up operations were later initiated to expand mining activities.

Ownership of this mine has changed hands over the course of history. In count themine has been owned by nearly three owners before it was fully acquired in the year 1936. Activities have rapidly grown over the years to make this pit to be known as the world’s biggest copper mine and this has also made this region known all over the world. Copper is a very important mineral ore and has a ready market in countries all around the world. One of the end products of copper is the cable wire which is used in the lighting of homes and a conduit of major power in industries.

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