Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine: See four decades of growth from above

In nearly four decades, Utah’s largest mine has grown — but by how much?

Though Kennecott’s Bingham Canyon Mine produces thousands of tons of copper and molybdenum a year, satellite photos show it hasn’t grown out a lot.

[Read: The mining never stops, but Kennecott’s massive open pit grows — slowly]

Here’s an overhead view of the massive, mile-deep hole that produces thousands of tons of ore each year. These two images from Google Earth, taken in 1984 and 2022, show how that production affects the mine’s size.