The Drainage Gallery Ore (DGO) deposit that forms the basis of Rio Tinto’s planned underground production mining operation beneath the Kennecott Utah Copper open pit, has the potential to be much more than a high-grade boost to the copper mill feed. It is part of a larger strategic opportunity to add value to existing operations and powering a perceptual shift change of acceptable mining methods at a surface controlled operation. Utilising 30+ years of underground history, the DGO project the company says is setting the stage for large scale underground operations ensuring collaborating with open pit operations to maximise the potential of the Kennecott property.

This underground operation is the subject of a technical presentation at next week’s SME Annual Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado by W. Robertson from the Kennecott Underground Project Development team.

At a copper investor roadshow last October 2018, Rio Tinto Arnaud Soirat, Chief Executive – Copper and Diamonds stated that the DGO feasibility study is one of three growth and productivity focus projects at Bingham Canyon along with the South Pushback optimisation and South Pushback Slice 2 (at PFS stage). Currently, software like Deswik’s Stope Optimizer and Maptek Vulcan are being used to complete and optimise mineable shapes, underground mine designs, production and development schedules for the potential DGO operation.

Photo courtesy DSI