Underground hard-rock mining

Rio Tinto progresses studies for potential underground mining at Kennecott copper

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, July 22, 2021
Mining, Minerals, Natural Resources, Mining, Copper mining in the United States, Kennecott Utah Copper, Kennicott, Companies, Rio Tinto, Underground hard-rock mining, Stock market

Rio Tinto has approved a $108 million investment in underground development to enable early orebody access and undertake orebody characterisation studies for underground mining at the Kennecott copper operations in the United States.

Key Points: 
  • Rio Tinto has approved a $108 million investment in underground development to enable early orebody access and undertake orebody characterisation studies for underground mining at the Kennecott copper operations in the United States.
  • The investment builds on $25 million approved in early-2020 to complete a pre-feasibility study to determine the viability of underground mining operations at Kennecott.
  • Potential underground mining would occur concurrently with open pit operations and result in increased copper output.
  • Kennecott holds the potential for a significant and attractive underground development, with declared Mineral Resources of 20 Mt at 3.65% copper and 1.62 g/t gold1 with further upside potential based on drilling.