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BINGHAM CANYON — It was the biggest slide in the history of open pit mining, but a few weeks after a massive slide damaged Kennecott Copper on April 10, the process began to clear the debris and start hauling ore again.
On Oct. 27, the mine access road, which is the major lifeline of the operation was reopened a full six months earlier than planned.
For the mining operations at Kennecott, the road is similar to I-15 for Utah's commuters.
"We've moved over 14 million tons from the top and sides of that failure in an effort to return this area to a safe configuration for our miners," said Matt Lengerich, general manager of Bingham Canyon Mine.
The reopened road, which crosses the slide area, is three-fourths of a mile long and 150 feet wide, and replaces the previous access road that was buried.
Until the new road was completed, ore trucks had to traverse steep switch backs, a much slower and dangerous process.
Since the slide, Kennecott has implemented new ways to improve efficiencies.
"Some examples include new digging patterns that allowed us to reduce the time it takes to load the trucks by 40 percent," Lengerich said.
We've moved over 14 million tons from the top and sides of that failure in an effort to return this area to a safe configuration for our miners.
–Matt Lengerich, Bingham Canyon Mine general manager
Workers can now change the 12-foot-tall tires in less than three hours, instead of eight in the past.
The slide reduced production by about 50 percent. However, with the road open, the mine is expected to produce roughly 200,000 tons of refined copper by the end of 2013, a figure unimaginable when the slide hit.
Reopening the road is a huge step, but there's still plenty of work to do before normal operations return in 2016. The work includes removing 100 million tons of material that remain in the pit.
