SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah mine employees are back at work following a small landslide at one of the country’s biggest copper mines.
Workers at Bingham Canyon Mine returned to the job Wednesday, a day after they were evacuated from its lower pit when sensors picked up movement in the walls. About 50,000 tons of dirt and rock later fell down the wall.
Kennecott Utah Copper spokesman Kyle Bennett says such events are not uncommon, and this one was likely caused by moisture. He says no one was injured.
The mine is the site of a 2013 landslide that was large enough to bury New York’s Central Park under 66 feet of rock, dirt and debris.
Bennett says yesterday’s landslide was over 100 times smaller than that one.
The mine produces about 300,000 tons of copper every year.
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