Our equipment finance focus really gives us a unique eye into big things happening in the mountain west. When you’re talking big equipment, there is really nothing bigger then Rio Tinto Kennecott.
A SITE TO BEHOLD
The Bingham City Copper Mine (or just Kennecott copper) is an open-pit mine creating the largest man-made excavation in the world! The pit is over half a mile deep, 2.5 miles wide, and covers 1,900 acres! The pit is designated as a national historic landmark and the structure is even visible to the naked eye from the space shuttle!
Minerals from the mine were first discovered in 1848 by Sanford and Thomas Bingham. Their group leader Brigham Young, actually advised against pursuing mining operations because of the importance of maintaining the budding settlements in Utah. It wasn’t until September 17, 1863, that mining operations began. The initial mines were small in caparison but isn’t everything small compared to that, and the mining operations didn’t really scale up until the late 19th century when the open pit operations started to take hold.
Open-pit mining has its dangers though. April 10, 2013 marking the largest non-volcanic landslide in North America taking place in the mine. Around 65 –70 million cubic feet of dirt slid off the mountainside. Fortunately, an intricate radar system allowed Kennecott to shut down the day before, and no injuries occurred. Unfortunately, the slide cut the production of copper by over 100,000 tons! A big blow to any operation.
EQUIPMENT IN KENNECOTT COPPER
Finally, with Kennecott being so large they own and operate many truly enormous pieces of machinery. Pictured recently in one of their tweets, they told us they operate over 100 of the Komatsu 930 series haul trucks. These trucks can haul over 300 short-tons and was the largest capacity haul truck in Komatsu’s line up until 2008. The trucks weigh roughly 463,000 pounds and an improved model produced over 3,500hp from their twin-turbo diesel engines! These trucks can go for about $5 million apiece. With over 100 rolling around the mine, wouldn’t it have been nice to help finance that deal!
The Kennecott pit mine is truly something to behold, I recommend checking it out if you’re ever in the valley here!