Saturday, August 19, 2006

The Land of Giants


The Land of Giants


This is just a practice round to help ya'll get the idea.
This week I have been away from home on business. After work this afternoon I drove across town to visit the largest human excavation on earth. At 2.5 miles across and .75 miles deep, this pit is visible from space.
The truck in the picture weighs more than a 747. It carries 600,000 tons of rock and debris out of the bottom of the pit in a single load. Each tire costs roughly $20,000 and only lasts 9 months.
Why go to all this work? Is this some sort of elaborate art? Trying to dig to the bottom of the world? The answer is much more profitable than that. The trucks are hauling Chalcopyrite.
What is this mineral? why is it so valuable? What is the name of this pit?
That is your task.

2 comments:



  1. Hi Tim and Laura. I see you were at Bingham Canyon Mine near Salt Lake City - the richest hole on earth. Five years ago the price of copper held steady at around 67 cents a pound but recently it has skyrocketed up to about $3.80 a pound. There is a great website about this minbe at:
    http://www.rockhounds.com/rockgem/articles/bingham_canyon.html

    We'll watch for your blogs.

    -Jerry & Patti

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  2. Hi there! Cool idea--your new website.

    Chalcopyrite contains copper, as well as small amounts of gold, silver, lead, molybdenum, platinum and palladium...the hole is Bingham Canyon is biggest manmade hole on earth--

    I love google.

    Take care,

    Jonquille

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