Anaconda's Carr Fork Project
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This page was last updated on August 2, 2024.
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Tooele Valley Railway
Operations on the Tooele Valley Railway continued after the International smelter was closed. Until about 1975, the railroad was used to ship outgoing scrap from the dismantling of the smelter, and until 1981, the railroad was used to accept inbound shipments of construction materials for the development of the new Carr Fork Mine. (Mining, Smelting and Railroading in Tooele County, page 118)
Tooele Valley Railway was used to haul away the scrap as the International smelter was torn down in 1972-1974, and remained to move inbound material for the construction the new Carr Fork mine and mill in Pine Canyon. It was finally shut down and abandoned when Anaconda's Carr Fork Project mine and mill shut down, with its last day of operation being on August 28, 1982.
Carr Fork Project
The following comes from Ken Krahulec's "History And Production Of The West Mountain (Bingham) Mining District, Salt Lake County, Utah," published in 1998.
The 1970s also brought a reappraisal of Bingham Canyon's deep copper-gold skarn potential. This resulted in Anaconda's decision to develop the Carr Fork copper skarn, on the down-dip projection of the old Highland Boy-Apex mines, which had closed in 1947. By 1974 Anaconda had tested the deposit with 17 deep surface holes from their property on the northwest flank of the open pit copper mine. After five years of development, the Carr Fork mine began production in August 1979. The mine only operated for slightly over two years, however, before high operating costs, dilution, shaft problems, and low copper prices forced its closure.
Similarly, Kennecott Copper re-examined the North Ore Shoot copper-gold skarn to the northeast of the pit. The deposit was discovered in 1957 and initially delineated by 24 surface holes drilled over the next 15 years. A 20-foot diameter shaft was completed to a depth of 3,089 feet in 1983. The deposit was further explored by 12,300 feet of drifting, three test stopes, and 72,848 feet of drilling in 124 underground holes. The North Ore Shoot has yet to begin production, and both the Carr Fork and the North Ore Shoot mines are now flooded.
September 7, 1974
Anaconda announced a new project to begin mining copper from a new underground mine to be located about two miles west of Kennecott's Bingham open pit mine. The project was to cost $136 million, and the new mine would produce 56,000 pounds of copper per year, beginning in 1979. Development work was to begin immediately, with the new mine to be 2,000 to 5,000 feet below the surface. Concentrates from the 10,000 tons per day concentrator mill would be shipped to Anaconda's copper smelter in Anaconda, Montana. Anaconda had been exploring the potential mine since 1969, when the ore body was first discovered. The ore body would be mined using the room-and-pillar method, using heavy machinery and methods similar to those being used in many coal mines. Waste rock would be removed from the mine and dumped at the site of the now-retired International smelter site, and existing road and railroad facilities would also be used. (Ogden Standard Examiner, September 7, 1974)
(A monument at the site shows September 6, 1974 as the project start date, and August 31, 1979 as the date of first production.)
August 12, 1975
Anaconda announced that it would halt work on shafts No. 1 and No. 3, two of the four shafts it was excavating as part of its Carr Fork underground mine. Although the mine was still planned to be in operation in 1979, its capacity would be reduced from 10,000 tons per day, to 5,000 tons per day. (Provo Daily Herald, August 12, 1975)
(Photos taken in August 1975 show the headframe of the exhaust shaft for its Carr Fork mine on Anaconda property on the north side of what was formerly Carr Fork canyon, but by that time was simply the north slope of the Bingham open pit mine. The headframe and hoist building were about 1,000 feet up-canyon from the Kennecott observation platform, which is visible in the photos. The headframe was removed when the vertical shaft reached the desired depth, and replaced by a large exhaust fan.)
January 1977
In January 1977, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) purchased the all interests of Anaconda Copper Mining Company.
March 7, 1977
Anaconda filed its intention to resume mining operations of its Carr Fork properties with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining. (This was the actual mining claims in the Carr Fork area of Bingham Canyon that Anaconda had owned since 1948, not what would later become known as the Carr Fork Project at the top of Pine Canyon.)
March 21, 1978
Work resumed on Anaconda's Carr Fork underground mine. Work resumed on the drilling and excavation of a ventilation shaft following work being suspended earlier in the month due to the deaths of two workmen. Work on the ventilation shaft had begun a year earlier, and was to be completed in two months. (Deseret News, March 21, 1978, "today")
December 18, 1978
Anaconda announced that its Carr Fork underground mine would begin production in September 1979.
June-July 1979
Anaconda's Carr Fork mine took delivery of five new 30-ton electric mining locomotives from General Electric in June and July 1979. These were intended to be used in the underground operations, but information provided during their sale at auction in 1984 stated that all five locomotive had never been used. (email correspondence with Robert Lehmuth, May 27 to May 30, 2011, citing GE builder records, and a sales brochure from the D'Angelo auction house)
(A monument at the site shows September 6, 1974 as the project start date, and August 31, 1979 as the date of first production.)
October 1979
Anaconda began production from its Carr Fork underground mine. (Deseret News, November 2, 1984)
November 1981
The Carr Fork mine stopped production in November 1981, while Anaconda waited for copper prices to rise. When this did not happen, the processing facilities were torn down, sold, and removed from the property in late 1984.
October 7, 1982
Anaconda closed its Carr Fork underground mine, after just three years of operation. The move laid off 120 workers, leaving 50 employees to maintain the equipment, including keeping the pumps running to remove water from the underground shafts. A year before, there had been 900 workers as part of the Carr Fork Project. (Tooele Transcript Bulletin, October 7, 1982)
May 14, 1984
A large mudslide hit the surface works of Anaconda's Carr Fork mine in Pine canyon, killing one worker who was operating a bulldozer at the time. The slide also filled the service shaft located the the top of the canyon, the major access to the underground workings. Three days later, Anaconda shut down all operations and laid off all but eight workers, essentially closing the project permanently. The worker was clearing the debris from an earlier slide. The slide also cut off power to the service shaft and other buildings in the vicinity. (Tooele Transcript Bulletin, May 17, 1984; May 29, 1984)
November 1, 1984
Kennecott and Anaconda announced a joint venture that would resume production from Anaconda's Carr Fork underground mine. Kennecott was to be the operator and would receive 96 percent of the production, with Anaconda receiving the remaining four percent. The Carr Fork concentrator had a 10,000 tons per day capacity, but the mine never reached that number in its production. (Deseret News, November 2, 1984)
Late 1984
"The Carr Fork mine stopped production in November 1981, while Anaconda waited for copper prices to rise. When this did not happen, the processing facilities were torn down, sold, and removed from the property in late 1984. The Carr Fork operations property was sold to Kennecott Copper in October 1985. This included the mine and mill along with several acres of land east of the smelter site." (Tooele County Department of Health; TooeleHealth.org)
February 1985
The dewatering pumps were turned off. Slumping continues in area (Baltimore Gulch) associated with May 1984 mudslide. Mud slide area in upper Pine Canyon remains unstable. Carr Fork operations were curtailed in 1981 and mine dewatering ceased in February of 1985. No new surface disturbances or reclamation associated with active mining occurred in 1985. (Documents on file with Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, Acct #M0450004, January 1986 Annual Report)
June 1985
In 1985, Anaconda sold the last of its copper and molybdenum property and operations and became solely a coal mining company. Beaver Creek Coal Co., was shown as its only operation in Utah. (Coal Age, Volume 90, Number 6, June 1985, page 24)
September 12, 1985
Kennecott purchased the Carr Fork mine, mill site and ore reserves from Anaconda. "All facilities except the Pine Canyon Tunnel portal, production shaft headframe, access road to the warehouse/shop, culinary water system, water supply wells, power line to the wells, and the fresh
water tank will be demolished and the sites cleaned of debris prior to final reclamation." (Documents on file with Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, Acct #M0450004, Kennecott Reclamation Plan dated July 5, 1988)
Before Kennecott purchased the Anaconda property in 1985, the north west corner of the mine levels were so tight it was hard to get locomotives and cars around the levels. From about 5940 elevation up to 6240 elevation, there were daily derailments due to the tight clearances and sharp curves on the rail lines, which were necessary to avoid the Anaconda property lines. (Gary C. Curtis, posted to Bingham Canyon History group on Facebook, May 22, 2018)
"New York -- Kennecott, Salt Lake City, has purchased a portion of the Carr Fork, Utah, copper mine from Anaconda Minerals Co., Denver. The deal alters an original plan announced late last year between the two producers to jointly operate their Utah copper mining properties. "The purpose of the direct purchase was to give us flexibility in any future mining of the ore reserves which lie along the western boundary of our property," a Kennecott spokesman said." (American Metal Markets, October 3, 1985)
Specifically, the Anaconda interests that were purchased by Kennecott included the controlling 86 percent ownership of New Bingham Mary Mining Company, which adjoined Kennecott's property. New Bingham Mary had been organized in 1929, but very little activity took place until August 1978 when Anaconda was able to purchase its 86 percent ownership of New Bingham Mary stock. Through its majority ownership, Anaconda caused a lease to be assigned to itself, and the ore body was developed and worked from August 1979 to November 1981, solely by underground methods. In September 1985, Kennecott bought all of Anaconda's shares of New Bingham Mary. In November 1987, Kennecott assigned the previous Anaconda lease to itself, and began stripping overburden from the ore body, and mining the ore body by open pit methods. In 1997, the Kennecott-controlled management proposed to merge New Bingham Mary into Bingham Consolidation Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kennecott. The merger of the two companies into a new Bingham Consolidated Company was completed on January 1, 1998. (Bingham Consolidation Company vs. Groesbeck, Utah Court of Appeals, November 26, 2004)
January 13, 1987
"As you are well aware, we were very active at the Carr Fork site during the Summer and Fall of 1986 conducting active reclamation. Phase I of this work, which included all of the earth moving, grading, seeding, and surface water diversion, was completed in mid-December. All that remains to be completed is the planting of the containerized stock. This work is scheduled to begin in the early Spring of 1987 and should be completed by June of 1987." (Documents on file with Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, Acct #M0450004, January 1987)
July 1988
"All facilities except the Pine Canyon Tunnel portal, production shaft headframe, access road to the warehouse/shop, culinary water system, water supply wells, power line to the wells, and the fresh
water tank will be demolished and the sites cleaned of debris prior to final reclamation." (Documents on file with Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, Acct #M0450004, Kennecott Reclamation Plan dated July 5, 1988)
Since the purchase [in September 1985], most of the buildings and structures in the canyon have been removed with the exception of certain mining facilities. These mining facilities have potential future uses for our underground development and will be retained in a usable condition. All buildings not intended for future mining uses will be demolished and their foundations and basements covered. The balance of the disturbed area will be reclaimed to a stable condition. We intend to restore the surface runoff patterns in the canyon to near natural conditions and we will regrade and revegatate the other surfaces. It is our intention to commence reclamation of the property this summer. We would like to begin this work in August and have the work essentially completed in November of this year.
At the present, all of the original mine facilities on the upper and production shaft pads remain, or are in some stage of salvage or demolition.
The Pine Canyon Tunnel portal and the shafts have been closed. The tunnel will continue to be used as a means of access for a water and electrical service connection from Pine Canyon to Bingham Canyon and the warehouse shop has been leased to a third party as a truck shop and warehouse.
Shaft and Portal Closures -- The Pine Canyon Tunnel will be maintained in an operational condition for an undetermined period of time. To provide for public safety and allow for ventilation of the tunnel, the portal has been closed with a double-hinged steel-framed door covered with heavy gauge wire mesh. This door will normally be locked to prevent unauthorized access.
The service and production shafts have been sealed at the sub-collars with poured-in-place, three-foot-thick concrete slabs. The service shaft will be backfilled with earth on top of the concrete slab. The production shaft headframe doors will be securely locked and the shaft preserved for future use.
All portals for conveyor and pipe tunnels throughout the property will be closed with concrete block stopings placed inside of the portals. The portals outside of the stopings will then be filled with earth graded to conform with the adjacent reclaimed slopes and revegatated The portals to be closed in this manner include the conveyor portals at the production shaft, conveyor portals above and below the crusher building; conveyor portal above the mill building; pipeline tunnel below the mill building; pipeline tunnel below the concentrate thickener, and pipeline tunnels below the tailings thickeners.
November 1, 1988
"Significant progress has been made, particularly in the upper reaches of the canyon and on the upper pad where the main office, shop and warehouse buildings were located. All these structures have been removed and regrading work was being conducted. Most of the structures and concrete foundations, which remained from Anaconda Minerals Company's previous mining operation, have now been knocked down and buried as part of the reclamation process."
(Documents on file with Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, Acct #M0450004, Site Inspection dated November 1, 1988)
Spring 1989
After all of the structures, foundations, and pads had been removed by late 1988, the final regrading, revegatation, and improved drainage was completed in spring 1989.
(Documents on file with Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining, Acct #M0450004, Annual report dated February 2, 1990)
Because Anaconda's reclamation plan for the Pine Canyon area was approved in 1980, and the reclamation completed by Anaconda prior to the sale to Kennecott in 1985, Kennecott as successor to ARCO, which in-turn was the successor to Anaconda, remains as the responsible party for the reclamation and monitoring of vegatation, surface runoff and groundwater. Kennecott retains ownership of the property down to the mouth of Pine Canyon, where a gate has been installed across the access road.
At the time of the sale in 1985, although Anaconda had completed the demolition of the mill and floatation buildings, and conveyors in Pine Canyon, as well as the regrading, revegatation and reclamation of the Pine Canyon area, the shaft and warehouse buildings, foundations and pads remained on the upper parts of Pine Canyon. After the sale, Kennecott demolished the structures, and made the area safe, then completed the needed regrading and revegatation of the area. All that remains is the Pine Canyon tunnel, the headframe and the warehouse and shop, along with the necessary environmental monitoring equipment.
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