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EMPLOYEES OF RIO TINTO KENNECOTT

BINGHAM CANYON MINE

2014 Special Citation

In April 2013, the Bingham Canyon Mine experience the largest mining landslide ever recorded. The 165-million ton slide was a defining moment in Rio Tinto Kennecott's history.

Kennecott’s single biggest achievement is that they detected, monitored, and acted prior to the slide to ensure that no employees were injured.

With a primary goal of getting back to safely producing copper and recovering the business, employees were asked to rise to the occasion. Employees from across the operation responded in a singular effort to safely advance recover efforts.

To date numerous achievements have been realized:

  • Millions of tons of material have been moved to stabilize the slide area.
  • Damaged buildings have been removed from the slide zone.
  • Operations resumed 48 hours following the slide in non-impacted areas.
  • Sixteen pieces of large equipment have been recovered, including 10 of the 13 haul trucks. Four of the recovered haul trucks are back in service.
  • The mine access road was reopened and restored top-to-bottom access within the mine 7 months ahead of schedule.
  • Valuable components and equipment continue to be recovered from the slide area.

Kennecott has made significant progress since the slide, and it anticipates cleanup efforts will be completed by the end of 2015.




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