Today all four of us took a sightseeing trip. Steve and Carol took us to the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine which is located near their home.
Now, between you and me, I've never given copper much thought. When I have it was probably about Lincoln head pennies. That's it, I guess I'm just not into minerals. So to say today was an eye-opener, well that doesn't even touch it!
Follow me, I'll show and tell you more about copper than you ever thought you'd know.
It was June of 1903 when the original Utah Copper Company was created to mine and process low grade copper ore found in a mountain in Bingham Canyon. Most experts of that day said the company would never make money: the ore grade was too low, only 39 pounds of copper per ton of ore.
Steam shovels began working on the mountain in 1906, and for the next 100 years shovels, trains and trucks converted that mountain into the world famous Bingham Canyon Mine, a huge open pit copper mine that is more than three-quarters of a mile deep and more than 2 3/4 miles wide across the top, and it is still growing. You could stack two Sears Towers on top of each other and still not reach the top of the mine.
Here's what the mine looked like as we drove to it.
When we drove up to the parking area I really didn't see what the big deal was. I saw a few trucks off to the right and what was in front of us seem to, well, to tell the you the truth, I couldn't see anything. Little did I know what was happening below.
Our first look at the mine.
We were awestruck by how B I G it was.
Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine has produced more copper than any mine in history - about 17 million tons.
We were surprised to learn that the mine is so big, it can be seen by the space shuttle astronauts as they pass over the United States and that if you stretched out all the roads in the open pit mine, you'd have 500 miles of roadway.
The trucks that haul the ore are larger than many houses and weigh more than a jumbo jet. They stand over 23 feet tall and can carry from 255 to 360 tons of rock. We're so high up these trucks looked little. The driver's of these trucks ride about 18 feet off the ground, nearly two stories high.
In the area we were standing there was a display of small railroad type cars that carried the ore back in the day and other artifacts of mining. What really caught our eye was the tire on display that is used by the trucks like the one in the above picture.
This tire is 12 and 1/2 feet tall! It weighs 10,183 pounds! It will last about one year, or about 50,000 miles at a cost of $32,000! Each! And each truck has six! I will never complain about the cost of new tires again. Well, at least not until we need them again.
Look at the left hand side of this next picture. You'll see a line of the big trucks taking the ore out of the bottom of the pit for processing. Look real close...
Those trucks travel at a rate of 15 miles per hour due to the heavy load they are carrying. Can you imagine being one of those truck drivers, not going more than 15 miles an hour for 8 or more hours and then hitting the freeway to go home? They must feel like they are flying!
The picture below is of a giant shovel that scoops the ore out of the ground. These shovels can scoop as much as 98 tons in a single bite. That's equal to about 50 cars! The newest shovels on the market each cost $8 million and weigh 2.5 million pounds.
It was time to go inside the visitor's center to learn more.
Inside are historic photographs, interactive exhibits, 3-dimensional models and video presentations that provide and interesting and entertaining experience for visitors of all ages. It was here that I learned just how much we as consumers depend on the copper! Everything electrical....EVERYTHING ELECTRICAL....has copper in it. The cars we drive, the trains we ride, the planes we fly and even the space shuttle make use of copper in some way, shape or form. Copper is widely used in the construction of the houses we live in, the buildings we work in and the things we play with. Let me tell you, I have a whole new respect for copper!
In 2002, Salt Lake City hosted the winter Olympics. For the first time the raw materials for the Olympic medals....gold, silver, copper and zinc....all came from Kennecott.
The 2002 medals are the heaviest and largest ever presented to the champion athletes. The Gold and Silver Medals each weighed in at 1 and 1/4 pounds and the Bronze at 1 pound even.
By 2015 the mine will be 500 feet deeper than it is now.
So that was our tour of the copper mine.
We had some visitors when we got back to Steve and Carol's. Bob and I were sitting outside the rig and Carol was there talking with us when she motioned to me to look. We had been told that the deer came up in the yard but we didn't expect to see three of them so close.
This one decided he liked the apples right off the tree rather than the ones that fell on the ground.
They kept an eye on us but realized we weren't there to hurt them so they really didn't pay us to much mind.
After another great dinner we retreated to the patio once again. Bob and I will never get enough of this space! We were entertained by a small flock of hummingbirds fattening up for their trek south for the winter.
This next picture shows a battle. The hummingbird wants the clear, nourishing nectar but the bee has other ideas!
This poor little guy knocked itself out when it flew into the picture window.
Just as I bent down to pick him up he flew away. He's OK.
So this was another day in the lives of these full time RV'ers. Life is good, life is VERY good!
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