Utah Copper mining in the United States

bingham canyon mine in 1942

in 2006, utah nation s number 2 producer of copper.

the bingham canyon mine southwest of salt lake city has been 1 of world’s largest copper producers more 100 years. mine, owned , operated kennecott utah copper (a division of rio tinto group), large open pit in porphyry copper deposit. (the bingham canyon mine , chuquicamata copper mine in chile each claim largest open-pit mine in world.) continues major source not of copper, of molybdenum, gold, , silver. value of metals produced in year 2006 alone $1.8 billion.

bingham canyon mine, southwest of salt lake city, utah, in 2005

constellation copper s lisbon valley copper mine in san juan county, southwest utah began mining in 2005, , produced first copper in 2006. copper deposit in sandstones of dakota sandstone , burro canyon formation. primary copper mineral chalcocite, thought have been deposited solutions ascending through lisbon valley fault. above water table, chalcocite has been oxidized malachite, azurite, tenorite, , cuprite. on november 30, 2007, constellation announced stop mining in 2008, because of unexpectedly low copper recovery. company continue recover copper heap-leaching already-mined ore long profitable.

constellation officially declared bankruptcy , insolvent, copper mining efforts resumed in august 2009 under new management of financing renewal capital, subsidiary of partnerre, , has been producing approximately 35,000 pounds of copper day since restart. mining occurs solely in 1 mid-sized open pit named centennial pit, , primary ores malachite, azurite, , chalcocite. mine employs approximately 140 people of february 2012.

cs mining purchased assets of bankrupt western utah copper company/copper king mining corporation in 2011 , has applied required permits restart mining @ various sites held wucc. after receipt of permits, mining , milling activities expected start in second half of 2012 open-pit mining , flotation mill processing near milford. @ time assets acquired cs, measured, indicated , inferred resources approximately 600 million pounds of copper; plus gold, silver, , magnetite.

utah history go: copper mining, king of oquirrh mountains




^ r.l. bon , k.a. krahulec, utah , mining engineering, may 2007, p.116-120.
^ lisbon valley copper mine: utah, united states archived 2007-07-28 @ wayback machine. - constellation copper corp.
^ constellation copper corporation: resource estimate centennial deposit archived 2007-08-20 @ wayback machine. - srk consulting - february 2006 - (adobe acrobat *.pdf document)
^ constellation stops mining @ lisbon valley copper, engineering & mining journal, december 2007, p.10.
^ peterson, jodi. death of mine high country news, february 18, 2008