SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) - Rio Tinto is in the process of expanding the life and production of the Kennecott Mine in Bingham Canyon.

The "Apex" project, according to Rio Tinto's website, says they are looking to expand the life of the Kennecott Mine from 2032 to 2040 while adding 1.5 million tons of more copper production. Ian Lange, Coulter Chair of Mineral Economics at the Colorado School of Mines, says copper demand is on the rise and so is foreign competition.

Lange explained, "China is building a decent number of smelters, sort of trying to push out copper smelters in the rest of the world to dominate that market. And so yeah, so in some sense, what's happening in the rest of the world is making Kennecott much more strategic and important for the United States."

Kennecott has

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