Pictured: The largest North American landslide EVER that dropped 165 MILLION tons more than half a mile down at copper mine in Utah

  • A third of eligible workers are willing to accept the $20,000 early retirement bonus which includes a pension and health insurance
  • The landslide occurred on April 10
  • There were no fatalities
  • Geological engineer says this was the largest North American landslide on record

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 19:55 EST, 31 May 2013 | UPDATED: 22:32 EST, 31 May 2013

This is the stunning aftermath of the largest landslide ever recorded in North America, which saw 165 million tons of earth dropping more than a half mile at a Utah copper mine last month.

The natural disaster cut mining production in half at the Bingham Canyon Mine after the April 10 incident.

Operators rushed to bring out all workers and equipment from the mine before a massive landslide ripped through the canyon. It started at the mine's northeastern corner and then plummeted to very bottom of the mine, some six-tenths of a mile down.

Miraculously, there were no injuries.

Landslide brought it down: The devastation at the Bingham Canyon Mine outside of Salt Lake City. The mine's production was cut in half after the natural disaster

Landslide brought it down: The devastation at the Bingham Canyon Mine outside of Salt Lake City. The mine's production was cut in half after the natural disaster

According to Kennecott Copper Corp., the London-based company that operates the mine, more than 165 million tons of earth had fallen in the landslide.

Production at the mine was cut in half due to the disaster. In a message to customers, Kennecott representatives said that shipments of refined copper would continue as normal through April, but that May deliveries would be down and 'thereafter, we do not anticipate the ability to make further shipments for the foreseeable future'

Production began at the mines again in late April, but only limited operations.

In an effort to reduce costs at the slide-damaged mine, Kennecott has offered 270 workers in their 50s or older a $20,000 early retirement bonus in addition to pension and health insurance benefits. About a third of these workers are planning on taking the retirement, Union officials told the Associated Press May 31. The workers have until Saturday to accept or reject the plan.

Aftermath: A mining truck hauls rock from the Kennecott Copper Corp. owned Bingham Canyon Mine after the April 10 landslide

Aftermath: A mining truck hauls rock from the Kennecott Copper Corp. owned Bingham Canyon Mine after the April 10 landslide

The company, which employed 2,100 employees, had been looking to reduce costs with layoffs ever since a massive landslide hit the Bingham Canyon Mine.

According to Jeff Moore, a geological engineer at the University of Utah, this was the largest landslide North America has had to date.

'It's so big it's hard to sense and feel,' Moore told The Salt Lake Tribune. 'We haven't had something of this magnitude since [Montana's] Earthquake Lake'

Moore estimates that around 85 million to 92 million cubic yards of rock and dirt, along with copper, gold, silver and molybdenum were moved. Moore explains this amount of earth as being able to fill 21 Great Pyramids of Giza, or if it were spread out over New York City's Central Park, it would be 65 feet deep.

 

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And it's going to take a lot for the company to clean it up. 150 million tons of waste is almost two-thirds of what the mine moves in a year, according to reporting in the Tribune.

Quitting time: The Bingham Canyon Mine has been operating as a mine for over 100 years. The current company that owns the mine offered early retirement plans to older workers in order to reduce costs after an April landslide severely diminished production

Quitting time: The Bingham Canyon Mine has been operating as a mine for over 100 years. The current company that owns the mine offered early retirement plans to older workers in order to reduce costs after an April landslide severely diminished production

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i love the mine experts comments....

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That will take a bit of shovelling up! Thank goodness no one was hurt.

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Two things if April shipments continued as normal and May shipments were to be reduced and no shipments were likely in the immediate future, then the cut in production is 100% NOT half. Second they are not going to be able to remove that amount of debris at all let alone quickly. Incompetent reporting yet again DM.

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You would think with all that raw ore lying about for picking, without requiring blasting, they would be hiring rather than letting go. Get some monster JCB/CAT diggers in and get scooping.

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It was not a natural disaster but created by man. You cannot dig a deep hole and expect the sides to stay up.

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I heard Eric Pickles was there sightseeing sat down to eat sandwiches,he burped and the next thing anyone knew there'd been a huge landslide.

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I'm not brushing that up!!!

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What was the chances of that happening?

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Wow such is the power of the Earth. Saves them digging I suppose....Just think if they had all there lorries parked at the bottom, it would have saved them a lot of hard work....

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Production is cut as there is no way to drive the stuff to surface. They will need to recontour the sides. There were no fatalities because pit sides are monitored. Motion in centimetres was noticed and orders were given to have everyone out of the pit. The slide occurred along a natural geological fault. Equipment was moved to the far side of the pit away from the eventual slide unfortunately much more came down than they expected which is why much equipment was buried. IMO it's unlikely that this mine will reopen. 100,000 tonnes of copper production per year has been lost.

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