Kennecott Copper Mine

Jessica and Dan came to Utah and I tagged along when they went to the Kennecott Copper Mine in the Salt Lake Valley. It is pretty huge when you actually get on the edge looking down into the pit!

Interesting Info:
Every day, Kennecott Utah Copper mines about 150,000 tons of copper ore and 330,000 tons of overburden. The ore containing copper, gold, silver and molybdenum is hauled and deposited in the in-pit crusher and sent to the Copperton Concentrator.

From the mine, ore is transported on a five-mile conveyor and stockpiled at the Copperton Concentrator. There the ore is ground into fine particles. The smaller pieces are then combined with air, water and chemical reagents to separate the valuable minerals from the waste rock. The mineral bearing concentrate is then transported to the smelter through a pipeline.

This smelter is located on I-80 west of Salt Lake. It is that humongous smoke stack you see at the point of the mountain heading west!

These tires are on the truck that haul the ore in and out of the mine. Each one tires costs $25,000! I'd hate to pop one of those babies!
Our babies plus cousin Jakey in front of what they used to haul the ore around in!