The Richest Hole on Earth? Nature, Labor and the Politics of Metabolism at the Bingham Canyon Copper Mine

Abstract

At a basic level, megaengineering projects are the product of a labor process marked by the metabolic exchange between workers, technology and nonhuman nature. The large scale nature of these projects makes their continued existence an evolving matter of political concern. This chapter investigates the case of what some refer to as the largest open pit mine in the world – the Bingham Canyon copper mine 28 mi (45 km) southwest from Salt Lake City, Utah. Specifically, we are concerned with the relationship between the historical dynamics of the labor process and the political narratives of belonging that the Utah (and then Kennecott) Copper Company use to construct their contribution to the local community and ecology. We argue that for most of the 20th century Bingham Canyon was able to legitimate itself primarily as a source of livelihood for thousands of workers in the Salt Lake City region because of the large need for workers in the labor process. After crisis hit the copper industry in the early 1980s and Kennecott fired around 70% of their workforce, we examine how Kennecott reframed their legitimation narrative by focusing on “environmental stewardship” and an improved “quality of life” for all local residents. Just as capital-labor relation in Bingham were rife with conflict, we conclude by suggesting that the ecological problems inherent to open pit mining stand in tension to Kennecott’s projected image as “environmental steward.”