Name of the Mine
Kennecott Bingham Canyon mine.

Location  
Bingham Canyon mine is located 30 km from Salt Lake City, Utah, in the US.

Mine Owner/s  
Diversified miner Rio Tinto.

Brief Description  
Kennecott Bingham Canyon is an integrated copper operation comprising the Bingham Canyon openpit, underground skarn mining areas and downstream processing facilities near Salt Lake City, Utah. Mining areas include the South Wall Slice 1 and Slice 2 cuts and the future Apex cut in the North Wall.

Brief History  
Mining in Bingham Canyon dates back to the 1860s. The modern operation started in 1903, when Daniel C Jackling organised the Utah Copper Company and advanced large-scale openpit mining of low-grade porphyry copper ore. Steam-shovel openpit mining started in March 1906, and the operation was later consolidated under Kennecott. Rio Tinto acquired Kennecott's Bingham Canyon copper and gold mine in 1989.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Copper.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
Molybdenum, gold, and silver.

Geology/Mineralisation  
The Bingham Canyon deposit is a classic porphyry copper deposit containing economic grades of copper, molybdenum, gold, and silver. Peripheral copper/gold skarns, lead/zinc fissures, and disseminated gold deposits are also associated with this porphyry system. 

The Bingham Canyon deposit primarily consists of three nested porphyry dyke bodies intruded into an earlier equigranular granitic intrusion. The latter hosts the bulk of mineralisation. The igneous bodies were emplaced into a sedimentary sequence comprising predominantly quartzites with several thick limestone units in the lower portion of the sequence and thin silty limestones throughout the quartzite sequence.

Reserves  
Total openpit mineral reserves as at December 31, 2025, were estimated at 730-million tonnes grading 0.36% copper, 0.18 g/t gold, 1.96 g/t silver and 0.030% molybdenum.

Total underground skarns reserves as at December 31, 2025, were estimated at 8.6-million tonnes grading 2.08% copper, 1.11 g/t gold, 13.86 g/t silver and 0.014% molybdenum.

Resources  
Total openpit mineral resources as at December 31, 2025, were estimated at 20-million tonnes grading 0.13% copper, 0.30 g/t gold, 2.91 g/t silver and 0.008% molybdenum.

Total underground skarns resources as at December 31, 2025, were estimated at 58-million tonnes grading 1.96% copper, 0.87 g/t gold, 12.26 g/t silver, 0.011% molybdenum.

Type of Mine
Openpit and underground.

Mining Method  
Bingham Canyon remains primarily a conventional openpit operation, using diesel/electric haul trucks and electric or hydraulic shovels. 

Underground mining has restarted in the lower commercial skarn (LCS) and is being developed in the north rim skarn (NRS) alongside openpit mining. The underground skarns are mined using a bottom-up, sublevel longhole open stoping method with cemented backfill. First ore from the LCS was produced in early 2024; first production from the NRS occurred in December 2025, with ramp-up from the main stoping ramp sequence in the first quarter of 2026.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
Major infrastructure includes the Bingham Canyon openpit, underground skarn workings, Copperton concentrator, smelter, refinery, precious-metals plant, rail infrastructure and tailings storage facilities. Underground ore is processed through Kennecott's existing facilities.

Prospects  
Rio Tinto is studying an openpit extension beyond 2032 through the Apex/North Wall area. If approved, it could extend the mine life to about 2040.

Contact Details 
Rio Tinto
Tel +44 20 7930 2399
Website: www.riotinto.com