Bingham Canyon Mine – Largest Man Made Excavation

Bingham Canyon Mine is the biggest open pit mine in the world. It is situated west of Salt Lake City, Utah, southwest of West Jordan. This is the largest man made excavation on earth, the mine’s actual pit stretches 4 km (2.5 mi) in width and has a depth of 1.2 km (0.75 mi). The amount of copper produced by the mine is greater that any other mine on the Earth. Everyday a massive quantity of material (450.000 tons) is extracted from the pit.

Bingham Canyon Mine features a huge layered multi-color, barren protrusion extending on the side of Oquirrh Mountains lying on the western Salt Lake Valley. Bingham Canyon Mine is the largest copper, gold, lead and zinc porphyry mine in America.

Although the minerals were discovered in Bingham Canyon during 1850s; however, the extraction from the mine was started in 1873 after the construction of railroad. Settlements increased with construction on the steep walls of the canyon. However, with natural disasters and sophisticated mining techniques, the population of the region declined sharply. In 2005, work started for extending the mine 600 feet east. At present date, full-fledged mining operations continue at Bingham Canyon and it thrives as the biggest open-pit mine on Earth in capacity as well as size.

“This is a 2 shot panorama of the Bingham Canyon Mine West of where I live. It is over 2 1/2 miles across and I dont recall the depth but the Empire State Building wouldn’t even go half way up the mine you see. And I thought Hoover Dam was impressive! There is a small scar from merging the 2 pictures, have no idea how to get rid of it.”- freddyfromutah

“Stitch of Bingham Canyon mine (Bingham, Utah)
Drilling machine drilling holes for dynamite. The wall on the left side will be dynamited soon!” – Berten Smekens