We visited the Kennecott Open pit Copper mine just South of Salt Lake City. Largest open pit mine on earth. So large, that the Astronauts can see it when they orbit the earth...
This truck looks normal...but it is as big as a two story house...and carries a load of ore that is equal to 50 automobiles.
By 2015 the mine will be 650 feet deeper than it is today. After that point in time, they will have perfected the robots who will continue the mining operation underground.
The crane scoops 93 tons of rock in each scoop. It takes about 3 scoops to fill the truck (255-320 tons of rock). And the crane can fill 2 trucks per minute. Can you see the man standing by the back wheel??? He has to climb the ladder to get to that little black box where he drives the truck.
The crane scoops 93 tons of rock in each scoop. It takes about 3 scoops to fill the truck (255-320 tons of rock). And the crane can fill 2 trucks per minute. Can you see the man standing by the back wheel??? He has to climb the ladder to get to that little black box where he drives the truck.
This mine supplies 17% of the world's copper. The copper content of the rock is 1%...it is refined to 99.99 %. By-products of the refining process are gold and silver. Interesting!!!!
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