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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Kennecott Utah Copper has reached an agreement to purchase nearly half of Salt Lake County's land in Rose Canyon designated for open space.
Officials for both sides said the $5.3 million deal for 832 acres announced Saturday allows most of the Oquirrh Mountain area to remain open to the public and Kennecott exploration activities to continue.
The price is $1 million more than what the county originally paid for the land in 2007. The full $5.3 million will go to a county fund used to purchase open space.
County officials said the purchase involves less than half of the county's 1,700 acres in Rose Canyon, and the public will continue to have 4,000 acres of open space between Rose Canyon, Yellow Fork Park and U.S. Bureau of Land Management land.
Kennecott held subsurface mineral rights in Rose Canyon before the county's purchase of the surface rights. The 1872 Mining Law and federal Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 allow for mineral and surface rights to be held by different owners, and for mineral claims to be explored.
Kennecott plans to conduct further exploration in Rose Canyon. The acreage that it's purchasing is adjacent to the Bingham Canyon Mine.
Both sides said they would benefit from the agreement.
"The county acknowledges that Kennecott, as the mineral rights owner, has legal rights through which it is entitled to conduct exploration activities on the property," said Julie Peck-Dabling, the county's open space program manager. "This agreement is quite beneficial to the county in that we can begin purchasing additional open space through the Open Space Trust Fund that has been depleted."
Brendan Ryan, vice president of projects and expansion at Kennecott, said his company is pleased that most of the Rose Canyon land will remain open to the public. Access will be limited to non-motorized, daytime activities.
"We have worked collaboratively with the county, and as we discussed expanding our exploration it became apparent that a purchase represented the best approach," he said in a statement.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the next 30 days.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
