Kennecott Launches Project To Rehabilitate Mountainside

 

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - The view of the southwestern Salt Lake Valley will be undergoing a major facelift over the next few years a $100 million facelift.

Rio Tinto Kennecott has launched a five-year project that is aimed at rehabilitating and enhancing the aesthetic appearance of the mountainside altered by decades of mining activity in one of the world's largest open pit copper operations.

The facelift, dubbed the Alternative View Construction Project, is underway on the south- and east-facing rock piles along the Oquirrh Mountains. The project is expected to mitigate potential flood danger in the mine area that can occur after heavy rains as well as improve the overall look of the granite faces of the mountains that create the western boundary of the Salt Lake Valley.

Over the next two years, crews of more than 100 engineers and workers will remove waste rock material across the nearly 3-mile upper swath of the mine property, said Rio Tinto Kennecott environmental engineer Zeb Kenyon.

Once removed, material will be re-graded at an angle that will allow for revegetation of the newly altered surface, he said. The project will include the construction of new walls and stormwater basins that will be engineered and constructed to handle a minimum of a 100-year, 24-hour storm event a much higher tolerance than the 10-year, 24-hour storm capability that currently exists.

Future reclamation of the newly placed material will create long-term benefits by improving the aesthetics of the base of the valley facing waste rock piles, reduce water infiltration and erosion, and improve surface water management, Kenyon said. The project also provides options for work that could extend the long-term life of the mine that could take the operation through 2029 and enable further reclamation of the historic waste rock piles, he added.

While this work will be more visible compared to what we do inside the mine, we are committed to minimizing impacts and maintaining all regulatory compliance, Kenyon said.

Michael Piercy, general manager of construction for Rio Tinto Kennecott, said waste rock is the uneconomic material that is moved out of the way and placed in engineered and permitted facilities enabling access to metal-bearing ore.

He said the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2020, will not only help with water management on the property, but will also give the community a rejuvenated and more aesthetically pleasing view as they peer to the west everyday.