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KennecottUtah CoppersBinghamCanyon Mine

Teacher Guide

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Kennecott Utah Coppers (KUC) BinghamCanyon Mine Visitors Center, at an elevation

of about 6,440 feet, provides educational,hands-on and up-close experiences to helpvisitors better understand how Kennecottproduces metals and minerals that are essentialto creating the products used in everyday life.

Inside the Visitors Center, you will see exhibitsfeaturing everything from mining artifacts andmodel trucks to our modern-day operationsand approach to environmental engineering.Youll also see three-dimensional models thatoffer an educational and entertaining

experience for visitors of all ages.

Through your visit to the Visitors Center, youwill also learn about Kennecotts plans toextend the life of the Bingham Canyon Mine

to 2028 and beyond through KennecottsCornerstone Project.

The Visitors Center opened in 1992 and hashosted more than 2.8 million visitors. Eachyear, the fees collected from the Visitors Centerand donations from the Copperton Lions Clubare donated to local charities through the KUCVisitors Center Charitable Foundation. Sinceits inception, more than $2.4 million has beendonated to local community charities andnon-prot organizations. The funding benetsthe truly needy with a special focus on thedisabled, children and the elderly.

Please enjoy your visit, and thank you for yourdonation to the KUC Visitors Center CharitableFoundation.

Bingham Canyon was settled in 1848 by the

Bingham brothers, Thomas and Sanford, whowere ranchers with no mining experience.

In 1863, soldiers stationed at Fort Douglasin Salt Lake City explored the canyon anddiscovered lead ore. Utahs rst miningdistrict was created in the Bingham Canyonarea that same year.

In 1893, Daniel Jackling, a metallurgicalengineer, and Robert Gemmell, a miningengineer, studied the deposit and

recommended developing the ore bodythrough a revolutionary open-pit miningmethod and processing the ore through alarge-scale industrial process.

The miners and their families lived near

Bingham Canyon in places called HighlandBoy, Copper Heights, Coppereld, Carr Fork,Heaston Heights, Telegraph, Dinkeyville,Terrace Heights, Greek Camp and Frog Town.At one point, the population in the areaapproached 20,000 people.

In 1903, the Utah Copper Company wasformed to develop the mine, based on therecommendations of Mr. Jackling andMr. Gemmell.

In 1906, the rst steam shovels began miningaway the waste rock that covered the orebody. The ore was found in a part of themountain that divided the main canyon.

Welcome to theBingham Canyon Mine

The history of theBingham Canyon Mine

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Explorationpotential

High grade coppermineralization

Source: www.riotinto.com. Rio Tinto 2010 Mineral Resource andOre Reserve Statements, Moly Exploration Target Fact Sheet.

Slice through the Reserve/Resource Pit1,2

Lower grade coppermineralization

Deep Molytarget3

East facing view

Footnotes:

1. 2010 ore reserves

2. 2010 mineral resources

3. 2008 exploration target

Kennecott Utah Coppers (KUC) BinghamCanyon Mine has produced more copper thanany mine in history about 19 million tons.

The mine is 2 miles across at the top and of a mile deep.

You could stack two Sears Towers (now knownas the Willis building), on top of each otherand still not reach the top of the mine.

If you stretched out all the roads in theopen-pit mine some 500 miles of roadway youd have enough distance to reach fromSalt Lake City to Denver.

KUC mines about 55,000,000 tons of copperore and 120,000,000 tons of overburdenper year.

You could lay the soccer eld at Rio TintoStadium in Sandy, Utah, end to end more

than 38 times across the top of the BinghamCanyon Mine before it would reach both sides.

The elevation of the Bingham Canyon Minedrops from 8,040 feet above sea level to4,390 feet above sea level.

Every deposit of ore in the world is unique.There are no two ore bodies that are alike.

Geologic despositional forces were at work inthe Oquirrh Mountains between 260 and320 million years ago (Late Paleozoic Period).

About 30 to 40 million years ago, molten,metal-bearing rock deep within the earthscrust began to push toward the surface andformed Binghams ore deposit. Volcanoeserupted above the evolving ore body. TheBingham Canyon Mine ore-body containsprimarily copper, gold, silver and molybdenum.

Tiny grains of ore minerals, mostly copperand iron suldes, are scattered within what is

called host rock. Because there is far morehost rock than there are minerals, it is knownas a low-grade ore deposit.

On average, a ton of ore contains about 10.6pounds of copper.

The Bingham Canyon Mine has signicantmineralization below the current pit.

The geology of theBingham Canyon Mine

How big is theBingham Canyon Mine?

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Bingham Canyon Mine This is where themining process begins. Every day, KennecottUtah Copper mines about 150,000 tons ofcopper ore and 330,000 tons of overburden.The ore containing copper, gold, silver and

molybdenum is hauled and deposited in thein-pit crusher and sent to the CoppertonConcentrator.

Copperton Concentrator From the mine, oreis transported on a ve-mile conveyor andstockpiled at the Copperton Concentrator.There the ore is ground into ne particles.The smaller pieces are then combined with air,water and chemical reagents to separate thevaluable minerals from the waste rock. Themineral bearing concentrate is then transported

to the smelter through a pipeline.

Tailings Tailings are the leftover rock materialthat have had most of the valuable metalsremoved. Tailings are sent through a pipelinefrom the Copperton Concentrator to thetailings impoundment area north of the townof Magna where they are stored.

Smelter At the smelter, the copper concentrateis transformed into liquid copper through aash smelting process. The copper matte isprocessed in the furnace to produce 99.5percent blister copper. From there, the 750

pound copper plates, called anodes, are sent tothe renery.

Renery At the renery, anodes are loweredinto electrolytic cells containing a stainlesssteel blank and acidic solution. For 10 days, anelectric current is sent between the anode andthe cathode, causing the copper ions to migrateto the steel sheet. The other impurities,including gold and silver, fall into the bottomof the cell and are recovered in the PreciousMetals plant. This process forms a plate of

99.99% pure copper. The copper is separatedfrom the steel sheet and sent to market.

There are nine electric shovels and twohydraulic shovels operating in the mine.

The largest electric shovel has a 56-cubic-yard dipper that scoops up approximately98 tons of material in a single bite, a weightequivalent to about 50 automobiles.

The newest electric shovel costs more than$20 million and weighs 3.2 million pounds.

There are about 80 gigantic haul trucksoperating in the mine. These trucks carry asmuch as 320 tons of material in a single trip.

A new haul truck costs about $3.5 million.

The eet of haul trucks travel more than10,000 miles a day at an average speed of

13 miles per hour.

The mine has eight large drills that standbetween 75 and 100 feet tall and drill blastholes 55 feet deep. On average, 200 holes aredrilled in a typical day. Each hole is packedwith 1,200 pounds of special blasting agents.

The in-pit crusher reduces ore to less than 10inches in diameter or about the size of abasketball. Very ne dust particles arecaptured in an air pollution control device

called a bag house similar to a very largevacuum cleaner.

Mining equipmentand operations

The mining process

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Rio Tinto is an industry leader in nding,mining and processing the earths mineral

resources in a way thats economically,socially and environmentally responsible.

KUC's strategic focus includes following thesustainable development model. This modelincludes assuring Economic Prosperity, SocialWell-Being, Environmental Stewardshipand Governance surrounding our operation.When intertwined, these practices helppromote an economically strong, productiveand responsible company.

KUC constantly strives to be a good stewardof its resources. For example, KUC works toconserve and generate energy and reducethe environmental impacts of our operation.

KUC strives to work with communities,government and nongovernmental organiza-tions to achieve mutually benecial goals.

KUC recognizes that people are its mostimportant resource and safety is the highest

value. Helping to ensure a safe workingenvironment for our employees is always atop priority.

KUCs Daybreak community is an exampleof Rio Tintos commitment to sustainabledevelopment. Daybreak sits on 4,126 acresin the City of South Jordan. Daybreak is amixed-use, walkable community thatincorporates quality education, a healthyand renewable environment, and a vibrantlocal economy.

KUC has implemented vehicle idlingreduction software on more than 400 vehiclesto monitor speed, location, idling time andfuel usage.

The rst known use of copper was around10,000 years ago.

The Salt Lake City 2002 Winter OlympicMedals were made from gold, silver andcopper (bronze is made primarily fromcopper) from the Bingham Canyon Mine.

The Statue of Liberty contains 179,000pounds of copper. Since 1885, the statue hasendured biting sea winds, driving rains andthe beating sun. Over this time,the copperskin of the Statue of Liberty has not onlygrown more beautiful, it has also remainedvirtually intact.

The word copper comes from kyprios, theGreek word for the island of Cyprus, whereancient people mined copper.

Copper is essential to modern life. It isnecessary for building construction,transportation, industry, computers and

electronics, as well as advanced greentechnology, such as solar panels, windturbines and hybrid cars.

It requires about 15 different minerals tomake a car, 30 different minerals to makea computer, and as many as 42 differentminerals to make a telephone. Copper canbe found in each of these products.

On average, each person in America usesabout 30 pounds of copper every year.

The typical new home contains about 500pounds of copper found mostly in wiring,plumbing and brass xtures.

Fun facts about copper

Our commitment tosustainable development

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Rio Tinto has been a world leader in miningand exploration for more than 130 years.The company mines and processes the earthsmineral resources and metals essential formaking thousands of everyday products.Rio Tinto has operations on every continentand the companys products include aluminum,copper, diamonds, energy products, gold,industrial minerals and iron ore.

It is headquartered in the United Kingdom (UK),combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSElisted company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which islisted on the Australian Securities Exchange.

About Kennecott Utah Copper

About Rio Tinto

As the second largest copper producer in theUnited States, Kennecott Utah Coppercomprises nearly 25 percent of U.S. copper

production. Kennecotts Bingham Canyon Mineis one of the top producing copper mines in theworld with total production at more than 19million tons. Every year, Kennecott producesapproximately 275,000 tons of copper, 400,000ounces of gold, 4 million ounces of silver, 25million pounds of molybdenum, and 1 milliontons of sulfuric acid, a by-product of the smelting

process. Rio Tinto purchased the BinghamCanyon Mine and related facilities in 1989 andhas invested more than $2 billion in the

modernization since then. KUC has also spentmore than $350 million on the cleanup ofhistoric mining waste and $100 million ongroundwater cleanup. Rio Tinto employs 2,400people and inuences 14,800 indirect Utah jobsand each year spends nearly $1 billion in thestate of Utah in wages, benets, taxes and pur-chases from nearly 1,000 Utah area businesses.

www.kennecott.comwww.riotinto.com

2011, Rio Tinto