Kennecott Utah Copper

More than 100 years of mining success

Kennecott Utah Copper is wholly owned by Rio Tinto, which has for many years been responsible for mining, smelting and refining around 17 per cent of the US's total copper output. This makes it the second largest copper producer in America today.

The copper comes from the Bingham Canyon mine, the world's first and largest open pit copper mine, located about 28 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Bingham Canyon mine is two and a half miles long, over a mile wide and three quarters of a mile deep.

Every year, Kennecott Utah Copper produces about 300,000 tonnes of copper cathode along with 400,000 ounces of gold, 4 million ounces of silver, about 24 million pounds of molybdenum and about 1 million tonnes of sulphuric acid which is a by product of the smelting process.
The onsite smelter captures 99.9 per cent of the sulphur in the feed which makes it one of the cleanest smelters in the world.

Metals from the Bingham Canyon mine were donated to be used in the silver, bronze and gold medals received by the athletes in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.