Mining in Utah

Write down the letters of the minerals you think are mined in Utah – Gold Copper Lead Silver Iron Zinc Coal Molybdenum Salt Beryllium Sand and gravel Gilsonite

And the answer is . . . ALL of them!

Utah’s Mining Products at a Glance Crude oil and copper are the most valuable mined products of Utah, followed by natural gas. Uranium is mined when economic conditions make it profitable.

Utah’s Mining Products at a Glance Most of the gold and silver that is mined in Utah today are a byproducts of the Bingham Canyon Mine On average the mine produces 400,000 ounces (25,000 pounds) of gold and 4 million ounces (250,000 pounds) of silver per year

Utah’s Mining Products at a Glance Utah is the only state that produces gilsonite, a pure form of asphalt used in dark colored printing inks and paints, oil well drilling muds and cements, asphalt modifiers, and a wide variety of chemical products.

Utah’s Mining Products at a Glance Magnesium and natural salts are produced from the Great Salt Lake. Utah is the country's leading producer of molybdenum and potassium salts. Other mined products include sand and gravel, clay and gemstones

Utah’s Mining Products at a Glance The state produces an average of 21 million tons of coal a year

Speaking of Mining . . . The largest mine in Utah is the open pit Bingham Canyon Mine (sometimes also called the Kennecott Copper Mine). The Bingham Canyon Mine provides 25% of the U.S.’s copper needs It produces 275,000 tons of copper per year The copper is mined and taken to a crusher machine where it is crushed into soccer-ball sized chunks which are placed on a conveyer belt and they travel down a 5 mile tunnel to a processing plant This mine also produced the gold, silver and bronze needed for the Olympic medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City

Bingham Canyon Mine It is the largest open pit mine on the planet! It can even be seen from space! The mine has produced so many valuable minerals in its 112 years that it has generated more wealth than any other mine on earth! The mine is 2 ½ miles across and .75 of a mile deep. The tallest building in the U.S. would only reach halfway up the mine!

2013 Landslide The landslide occurred in April 2013 It moved more than 165 million tons of rock and dirt It was 2,000 feet wide and 2,000 feet long Nobody was hurt It was the largest landslide Bingham Canyon has experienced It took six months for the mine to be fully functional again It was the largest non-volcanic landslide in North American history