Rio Tinto extends life of Utah mine

published 19 June 2012

The life of Rio Tinto's Kennecott Utah Copper Bingham Canyon mine in Salt Lake City is to be extended by 11 years as the diversified miner injects more funding into the project.

The company announced on Tuesday afternoon that it would invest $660m over the next seven years to increase the life of the mine from 2018 to 2029.

"This investment highlights the additional value we can create by the efficient investment of capital at existing tier one assets. It will secure low cost copper, gold and molybdenum production for the next two decades," said Chief Executive Andrew Harding.

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"We continue to evaluate underground options that will further extend the life of Bingham Canyon, which has already been in operation for more than 100 years."

The additional funding will go towards the construction of mine infrastructure and new equipment to support pushing back the south wall of the mine. First ore from the south wall push back isn't expected until 2017 though.

The investment is expected to enable annual average production of 180 thousand tonnes of copper, 185 thousand ounces of gold and 13.8 thousand tonnes of molybdenum from 2019 through to 2029.

By 14:38, shares were trading 2.38% higher (+70.5p) at 3,033p.

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