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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Kennecott Utah Copper Corp. is proposing an expansion of its Bingham Canyon mine that would extend the mine's life to 2034.
The company is asking regulators to allow it to excavate about 1,000 feet from the south wall and deepen the massive mine by another 300 feet to reach 700 million more tons of copper ore.
President and CEO of Kennecott Utah Copper Kelly Sanders says the expansion, called the Cornerstone Project, would keep 2,000 jobs in the state and prevent a five-year shutdown beginning in 2016.
"We produced -- through jobs, taxes, royalties and services and supplies that we buy -- about $900 million in 2009 for the economy in the state of Utah," Sanders said.
Last year, the Bingham mine produced about 25 percent of the nation's copper. It began operations in 1906, and has reduced an 8,000-foot mountain to a giant hole now 2-1/2 miles wide.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
