• The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query content articles Canon Rebel XTi White Paper pdf.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 2b6fc6ce18d2a596b69080a0b62d11de css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css bb3fd0a036c714dc7ef1901edcf4d203 css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 45ab729a8306439d2a8bea6b2825a548 css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 41098be0a29e197ecfd88ce229c3f964 css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 758bcd9a022fe5edfe9c8f4e54655e36 css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 366b8463bcccd633fa35ae36d93694e1 css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 654a1542a916eae98a28412d3f7114fc css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css bb60e0f1342e9a2a60f07f34e82803cd css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 04f471eaa13ae8e614acbd5c802f195f css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 020152b6c8173c7051544f86868f84d8 css.
  • The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query files css css 3b37a1bb4a5e41b777f31e05734586d5 css.

Turning a Mountain Inside-Out One Scoop At A Time

Submitted by David Cardinal on Tue, 06/29/2010 - 05:33

Whatever you think of open-pit mining the sheer scale of turning a mountain into the world’s largest hole to provide millions of miles of telephone wire, countless feet of trendy house siding, and billions of feet of plumbing pipe is breathtaking. If it was a stadium Kennecott Copper’s (now RIo TInto’s) Bingham Canyon Mine could seat over 9 million people…

pl_binghamcanyonmineut_0002

At over 50 years old the Bingham mine is billed not only as the man’s largest hole in the earth but the world’s richest mountain (at least if you’re valuing mountains by street price). It is really difficult to convey its size. This first image reveals quite an impressive setting even when viewed by itself. The dozens of layers of terraces which make the dump trucks removing the ore and tailings look like matchbox cars.

If you don’t see the dump trucks at first, squint a little towards the middle of the frame on the road about half way up the mine. Those little dots are them (the larger yellow vehicle towards the front is a huge “steam shovel”).

Now that you have your mind wrapped around that, the really daunting part is those are no ordinary dump trucks. Each one is huge. They carry 300 tons of rock each with tires that are nearly 15 feet tall and cost $25,000 dollars. But the 67 of them that carry rock out of the mine look like the worker ants whose behavior they emulate. The next image shows Annie in front of just one of those tires for scale:

pl_binghamcanyonmineut_0001

Now glance back up at the first image and keep in mind that each of those tires is only a few pixels high. The mine is over 2-1/2 miles wide and 3/4 mile deep. By 2015 it is expected to be around a mile deep and to have pulled 37 billion pounds of copper out of the earth.

The mine, located about 30 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City has a visitor center with a wealth of information about the surprisingly (to me at least) complex process of extracting 99.99% pure copper from ore and about Kennecotts efforts to revegetate the area where the tailings are dumped.

Whatever your thoughts about natural resources and our planet the mine shows just how big an impact we are capable of making on our surroundings.

All images taken with Nikon D700 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and Moose Circular Polarizing filter.—David