Bingham Canyon Mine
National Historic Landmark · Copperton, Utah
An open-pit copper mine in the Oquirrh Mountains south-west of Salt Lake City, two and a half miles wide, more than three-quarters of a mile deep and covering 1,900 acres — described by its own sources as the largest human-made excavation and the deepest open-pit mine in the world. It has been worked since 1906 and was made a National Historic Landmark in 1966. It is still an active industrial site, and what visitors see is an overlook and an exhibition rather than a museum piece.
Bingham Canyon, Copperton, Utah, United States
⚠ VERIFY CURRENT STATUS BEFORE TRAVELLING — this is an ACTIVE INDUSTRIAL SITE whose public access has been interrupted repeatedly. The original visitor centre stood inside the source region of the 10 April 2013 landslide and was closed and removed during the evacuation; in 2015 the operator said it had no plans to bring it back; a new Rio Tinto Kennecott Visitor Experience opened on 20 May 2022 after a further two-year Covid closure. WHEN OPEN it runs SEASONALLY, broadly spring through October and weather permitting, as a SELF-GUIDED visit — an exhibition plus a shuttle to an overlook, with shuttles roughly every 30 minutes from about 9:30 to 14:30 and admission around $6 per person, under-fives free. ⚠ THE SHUTTLES STOP IN THE EARLY AFTERNOON, so a late arrival can mean missing the overlook entirely. ⚠ IT IS NOT A MINE TOUR — you do not go into the pit. Check riotinto.com before making the drive.
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