This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Rio Tinto Kennecott officials are monitoring the Bingham Canyon Mine's southwest corner after two landslides in the past week.
About 100,000 tons of material moved downhill into a reinforced catchment basin in the slides that occurred March 11 and Tuesday, said company spokesman Kyle Bennett.
No employees were in the vicinity at either time, he added, contending the slides will have minimal impact on the mine's copper production.
"We are paying particularly close attention to this area, where we continue to see additional movement," Bennett said, noting that the catchment basin was strengthened with a supportive berm between the two incidents.
He said this area of the giant open-pit mine is especially susceptible to movement because it is higher in the Oquirrh Mountains and wetter. "We have seen movement and bench failures in that area in past springs, with thawing and runoff," Bennett said.
The movement was detected through human observation and an advanced monitoring system with "sophisticated lasers and prisms that provide real-time data that contribute to short- and long-term decisions," he added.
Mining now is primarily focused now on the pit's east wall, much closer to the northeast quadrant where a massive landslide in April 2013 caused about 155 million tons of rock to slide into the pit.