- If I offer you a
penny for your thoughts,
it's not because I think
your thoughts are worthless.
And if I ask for your two cents,
well, it's not because
I think your opinion is
only worth a penny more
than your thoughts.
Once upon a time,
those expressions used
to be complimentary,
because back before 1982
pennies like this one
were made of copper.
And copper of course is one
of the most important
metals on the planet.
Our bodies would
shut down without it.
We can't live without copper.
Problem is because of
its long association
with our smallest
unit of currency,
millions of
Americans today think
copper is less important than
nickel, silver, and gold.
Not so.
Copper needs better PR.
That's what this
episode's all about,
because while a penny
saved is a penny earned
no matter what it's made of,
a world without copper
just wouldn't make sense.
To say it another way:
this right here is
"How America Works".
(equipment beeping)
(industrious music)
It takes all kinds of metals
doing all kinds of things
to keep these United
States up and running,
but few are quite so
specialized as copper
and for good reason.
It doesn't corrode,
it kills bacteria
and perhaps most importantly,
copper can conduct energy
like no other metal.
Small wonder then
that we Americans,
whether we know it or not,
rely on this almighty
element in a big way.
So much in fact that every
Tom, d*ck, and Harry in the US
will use more than
a thousand pounds
of it in their lifetime.
These days, though,
the demand for copper is
even higher than usual.
Why is that?
Why else? Infrastructure.
Turns out that when you
inject $1 trillion or so
into that sector,
people get to work creating
things like subways,
waterlines, and
brand-new power grids.
And guess what all of
those have in common?
Yeah, that's why the
20-plus copper mines
in our country are grinding
harder than ever to keep one
of our more sought-after
metals in steady supply.
But none of them are doing that
quite like Rio Tinto-Kennecott,
in northern Utah,
home to one of the largest
and most productive
mines in history.
Here, more than 2,000
employees can easily unearth
and refine a million
pounds of copper every day.
But thanks to the
recent rise in demand,
that quota has also risen
to 1.5 million pounds
all due to be shipped
by quitting time.
And at the forefront
of that daunting endeavor
are shovel operators
like Paul Hobbs.
- So 160 loads like
weigh about 50,000 tons.
So that's our goal for today
is get 50,000 to the crusher.
It's a pretty big goal,
but I think we can do it.
(vigorous music)
- [Narrator] That's not
just blind optimism talking,
because Paul knows that
if anything can move
that kind of material,
it's his 60-foot tall,
3-million pound shovel.
- Let's go ahead and
fire this bad boy up.
Check the screen to make
sure our folks are away.
Give her one honk so everybody
knows we're in the clear.
Turn it on, ready to go.
(energetic music)
- [Narrator] Like most
mining operations these days,
the copper here comes
mixed with a good bit
of dirt, rock, and
other materials.
So for every 10 pounds
of final product,
Paul will need to harvest
about 2,000 pounds of ore
which will be hauled
off to the refinery
by a fleet of
massive haul trucks.
- One truck down, 159 to go.
Yeah, as long as these
trucks keep rolling,
we can really move
a lot of dirt,
get a lot of dirt
sent to that crusher.
- [Narrator] But in
Paul's line of work,
dirt on the move isn't
always a good thing.
Case in point,
the loose rubble that's starting
to slough off the hillside
thanks to more mining
activity overhead.
- Just above us, on
the bench above us,
they got some work
going on up there.
I have to keep an eye on that.
(energetic music continues)
- [Narrator] But
despite Paul's efforts
to keep clear of them,
these slides are
already getting a little
too close for comfort.
- Sometimes that
gets to be a lot
of dirt coming at the shovel,
possibly even not be
able to run the shovel
until we get
something solved here.
(mound rumbling)
(tense music)
- [Narrator] While Paul deals
with his falling rock situation,
five miles away
raw ore from the mine
is entering the first
of many stages required
to make copper.
And it happens here
at what's known as
a concentrator plant
where keeping everything
running at top speed falls
to guys like Anthony Cordova.
(poised music)
- And I'm the head
maintenance guy here
at the concentrator
This i s where we take the rock
that's crushed at the mine,
and we pass it through
and get it to the smelter
so we can make copper.
- [Narrator] Those are
the broad strokes, anyway.
So here's a little more
on how that happens.
First, basketball sized
chunks of ore are ground down
into a fine powder.
Then that powder is
sent to flotation cells
where water, chemicals,
and most importantly
bubbles separate copper
and other minerals from the mix
creating a kind of
slurry that's 25% copper.
That is, when everything's
working as it should.
For the moment, though,
Anthony has a grinding
mill that, well, isn't.
(urgent music)
- I received a call
from Operations
that we were having
an oversize event,
and that means that the rock
that's getting through the
grinding mill is much bigger
than we want it to be.
So we want to figure out
what's going on with this mill
and why we're having
this oversize event.
- [Narrator] To
find out, Anthony
and his colleagues will pull
the mill's seven-ton cover,
then they'll crawl inside
for closer inspection.
- So as I make my way into
this trommel assembly,
I can see that this is where
that jet water
pushes the big rock
and I could see some
grinding media in here.
There's a little bit of wear,
but nothing I'm too
concerned about.
I don't see any
signs of any holes
where that bigger rock could
be making its way through
and getting to the ball-mill
side of the process.
(urgent music continues)
I just see wear on my liners.
I don't see any tear
Oh, wait a minute.
(dissonant music)
- [Narrator] Grinding mills
aren't the only machines in need
of regular maintenance
around here.
There are also the 90 or
so haul trucks responsible
for getting ore out of the
mine and into production.
And when just one
of them goes down,
well, that can cr*pple output
by nearly 4,000 tons per day.
So to minimize that downtime,
Rio Tinto-Kennecott relies
on a three-acre shop run
by advanced craftsmen
like Milorad Zivanovic
or Milo for short.
- [Narrator] For their
first job of the day,
Milo and his colleagues will
be performing a tire change.
Which is pretty much like
changing a tire on your car
if your tire were 12 feet
tall and weighed 20,000 pounds
and cost $40,000.
Other than that,
it's pretty much the same.
- Going up!
(machine humming)
- [Narrator] With the 200-ton
loader raised off the ground,-
- [Narrator] Milo and
his team's next task
will be removing the outer tire
so they can access
the flat behind it,
which again is just
like removing lug nuts
from your standard car
but on a much larger scale.
- So there's 54 lug nuts.
We'll first use these g*ns
to break them all loose.
Then we'll use a 3/4 impact g*n
to take the nuts off.
(robust music)
- [Narrator] And with each
of those nuts unscrewed
and out of the way,
the guys can now pull
the exterior tire
and deal with the flat.
- [Narrator] But
- [Narrator] This flat
isn't going without a fight.
(machine beeping)
- [Narrator] It takes
a good bit of copper
to keep our country running
even if a lot of that
happens behind the scenes.
Still every year the
US will mine, recycle,
and otherwise refine more
than a million tons of copper.
Or if we were to translate
that into, say, copper wire,
about 50 million miles worth,
enough to stretch from earth
all the way to Venus
and back again.
(steady music)
But in the midst of some
pretty expl*sive growth
in America's infrastructure,
demand these days is
at an all-time high,
leaving the 20 or so
copper mines of our country
in a mad scramble to meet it.
That's why in northern Utah,
the men and women
of Rio Tinto-Kennecott
are pushing
harder than ever
to create an ungodly 1.5
million pounds of product today.
Unfortunately for them,
one of the haul trucks
needed for that is
currently out of
commission with a flat tire
that's refusing to come loose.
(machine screeching)
(machine beeping)
- [Narrator] But with more
than 14 years in this shop,
Milo Zivanovic is quick
to spot the problem,
a valve stem that's
caught on the axle.
And with that now
out of the way,-
- [Narrator] he and his team can
finally pull the flat tire
and under Milo's
careful instruction
install a fresh one.
- [Narrator] From there,
it's just a matter
of bolting this tire in place
and doing the same
for the outer wheel.
(resolute music)
- Job well done.
- [Narrator] But for Milo
and his fellow craftsmen,
today's battle is
only half over,
because in the neighboring bay
there's another haul truck
in need of more
serious attention,
one with a sway bar
also known as a dog bone
that succumbed to
the wear and tear
of working in the mine.
- [Narrator] Hydraulic presses
like this one use 10,000 psi
to push out the pins holding
the dog bone in place.
(contraption droning)
(uneasy music)
- [Narrator] But as Milo
and his partner Craig are
starting to realize,-
- Nope.
- [Narrator] that
may not be enough.
- [Narrator] When that happens,
Milo resorts to a more
old-fashioned approach,
but again to no avail.
- [Narrator] While Milo
and Craig head back
to the drawing board,
over at the mine
shovel operator Paul Hobbs is
having problems of his own,
because while scooping
copper ore from this hillside
he's taking a lot
of falling debris,
probably not enough to damage
his three-story shovel,
but one of the haul trucks
- easy.
So there's only one thing to do.
- We gotta build a VCM berm.
A vertical critical mining berm
helps us keep everybody
safe, free from any rock fall
that we don't expect
to have happen.
(poised music)
- [Narrator] But
to build a berm,
Paul will have to swap
his shovel for a bulldozer
and borrow 300 tons of ore
from one of the haul trucks.
- Start at one end, and
I'll start pushing the dirt
and stacking it up so
it's kind of in a row.
So a general rule of thumb is
to keep the berm half the
height of the largest tire
that'll be rolling in the area,
and in this case
we got haul trucks.
Haul trucks have a
massive 12-foot tall tire,
so we need us a
six-foot tall berm.
Push this last little
bit of dirt up,
and we can open things back up
and get trucks rolling again.
- [Narrator] Meanwhile back
at the concentrator plant,
Anthony Cordova is also
starting to make some progress,
in his case with a grinding mill
that for some reason is letting
large rocks slip through.
And on inspecting its
internal components,
he may have just
figured out why.
- See how that panel
moves up and down.
I could tell that we've
lost our support fasteners
that keep this
panel in position,
that's where our oversize
event is happening.
This panel will
lift so high that
I'll actually be able to get
my whole arm underneath here.
So I mean, you could see
how big of a rock could
be sneaking through here.
- [Narrator] To get this
panel back up to spec,
all Anthony has
to do is secure it
with a few spare bolts,
that is after
tidying up a little.
- I want to clean all this
debris around this panel out
so that we can fasten this
panel back into position.
There we go. Yeah,
that's a good spot.
(resolute music)
(drill whirring)
(drill whirring)
All right.
It looks like we're good.
You can put this cover back on
and put this back to work.
- [Narrator] But no time to
pat oneself on the back yet,
because Anthony's more routine
jobs have only just begun
and they start with the
plant's flotation cells.
Remember those things
that separate the copper
from the other elements? Yeah.
They require daily inspections
and already it appears
that one of them is
in need of attention.
- Yeah.
So it looks like one of our
agitators might be seized up,
or it's going bad.
Going to start a fire here
if we don't get this shut
down right immediately.
- [Narrator] We may not
put too much thought
into how copper influences
our everyday lives,
but make no mistake we'd be
in a world of hurt without it.
We're talking about a world
with zero electricity,
nevermind electronics,
no pipes to carry our water
and no pennies to
ignore entirely.
Not that any of
that would matter,
because since our bodies
need copper to survive
we wouldn't be here either.
So yeah, copper is
kind of a big deal
and thanks to building booms
kicking off across the country,
never more so than right now.
That's why in northern Utah,
the men and women
of Rio Tinto-Kennecott
are doing all they can
to crank out another
1.5 million pounds
of the stuff by day's end.
But to make that happen,
Anthony Cordova will need
to deal with a bit
of an emergency here
in the concentrator plant,
specifically an agitator
on one of its 70-plus
flotation cells
that's just gone up in smoke.
(uneasy music)
- This agitator is
coming to a stop.
We're going to call in our
breakdown maintenance team.
And we may or may not be
able to fix this right away,
but I want to get this cover off
and see how bad
it is underneath.
- [Narrator]
Fortunately for Anthony
with the cover lifted
and out of the way,
the issue with this agitator
is an easy one to spot.
- These belts are pretty loose.
We like them tighter than that.
We'll take that belt off,
we'll replace it with a new one.
So these guys,
they're going to set that
old belt over here for now.
We want to get that
new belt put on.
Oh, we got it.
- [Narrator] And after
a little tightening
all that's left is a quick test.
- Control room, can I get a
run on six-on-six agitator?
(brisk music)
Okay, looks like
it just started up.
I don't see anything slipping.
I don't hear anything either.
I think we're good on this cell.
Now we'll move on to the
rest of our circuits.
- [Narrator] While Anthony
gets back to his rounds,
further down the production line
the next stage of refining
copper is already underway
at Rio Tinto-Kennecott's
resident smelter,
a six-acre facility
devoted solely
to turning copper concentrate
into 99% pure product
all through the
hard work of guys
like hot metals tapper
Chance Shepherd.
- Here at the smelter
what we do is we take the
feed from the concentrator,
we smelt it, convert
it, refine it,
and then we cast it
into our anodes-plates
where we then ship it
off to the refinery
for our final products.
- [Narrator] And here's how
all that happens in a nutshell.
To start, copper
concentrate is fed
into a 2,400 degree furnace
where unwanted compounds
like iron and magnetite
rise to the surface
in the form of slag
and the compound known
as copper sulfide
sinks to the bottom.
From there, that copper
sulfide is tapped and piped
into yet another furnace
to be blasted with oxygen,
a process through which
more impurities are removed
leaving almost nothing
but pure copper behind.
But since that also
creates a good bit of slag,
Chance's first order of
business will be removing it
from the furnace
before it's too late.
- We don't get that
slag tap hole opened,
we have the potential
of filling that furnace
completely full
and end up in a worse situation
where we have a full furnace
that we can't get emptied out.
We're going to gear up and
get ready to head out here
and get this FS slag
tapping running.
- [Narrator] But since
the furnace floor is
among the more hostile work
environments out there,
Chance will first
need to suit up
with a whole lot of PPE.
(bright music)
- We've got a lot of
extreme heat up here,
a lot of noise, a lot of gas.
So I'll be wearing a
full-face respirator attached
with some supplied air,
then I'll be throwing on
aluminized silver leathers.
That's mainly to protect
me from that molten metal
and that radiant heat.
- [Narrator] For that,
Chance first punches a hole
in the side of the
smelter using a steel bar,
but to open it all the way
he'll need something
with a little more oomph.
(steady music)
- [Narrator] Once finished,
the smelter will yield
a final product that's
99% pure copper.
But for that last 1%,
there's another step
to the production process
known as refining,
and that happens here
under the watchful eye
of crane operator Jared Rackham.
- The refinery is the last step
in the process of making copper.
We take the copper anodes
that come from our smelter
and we turn them into
pure copper cathodes.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] And
here's what that means.
Once smelted the still
slightly impure copper is cast
into a flat square
called an anode.
From there, it's
lowered into a solution
of copper sulfate
and sulfuric acid
along with another steel
square known as a blank.
Then, that acid bath is hit
with an electric current
which causes the
anode to dissolve.
When that happens,
impurities like iron and
zinc fall to the bottom
while copper ions attach
themselves to the blank,
eventually forming a cathode
of 99.9% pure copper.
And that's where Jared comes in.
(steady music)
- They'll have a crane
that'll pick up the load
and it'll put it into
what we call a stripper.
These machines will strip
the copper from the blank,
and roughly in 15 to 20 minutes
we're going to get those
same blanks sent back to us,
and we will put them right
back into the section
to get the section
turned on and producing.
- [Narrator] It's a continuous
process that will churn out
about 60,000 pounds of
pure copper every hour,
but it's also a lot
to keep in motion.
So Jared relies on a crane
to lift and shuttle more
than 40 anodes at a time,
most recently some impure ones
bound for the electric bath.
- So this crane, there's some
automation to this crane.
So all I have to do is get
somewhat close to the load.
I don't have to be
directly over top of it,
and I can hit this
Go-To-Position button.
I hit it and then I can let go,
and the crane will
center itself.
- [Narrator] But when it comes
time to pick up the anodes,
cranes like this one can
hit the occasional snag,
and it appears that's
exactly what's going on
with Jared's latest load.
- We have some blanks and
an anode out of place,
so I'm not going to
be able to come down
on top with the
crane and pick it up.
So we're going to have
to shut the lines out,
get in there and fix it by hand.
- [Narrator] There's
no question that
every single American requires
copper to do their job
what with it being
essential to electricity
and keeping us alive and
all that other good stuff.
But the workforce responsible
for creating that copper
is surprisingly small,
only 11,000 Americans
or 0.003% of the population.
Even so they get a lot done,
because every year just one
of those workers will
make 90 tons of the stuff
or enough to build three
more Statues of Liberty.
Yeah, she's copper too.
These days, though,
with the spike in demand caused
by growing infrastructures,
those workers are grinding
full tilt to keep up.
And in the case of
Rio Tinto-Kennecott
in northern Utah
crank out another 1.5 million
pounds of copper by day's end.
But down at the refinery
crane operator Jared Rackham
has hit a bit of a roadblock,
a crane that's refusing
to lift his latest load.
So having shut everything down,
he's heading in
for a closer look.
- This is one of our full loads
of anodes and
blanks that come in.
It's got the silver, gold,
bismuth, arsenic, lead.
This is what gets eaten
away in our acid solution.
And this copper come
out of here 99.99% pure,
and it'll attach itself to
the stainless steel blank.
- [Narrator] So far, all
seems to look as it should.
But further down the line
Jared is quick to
spot his issue,
an anode that's fallen
out of position.
- So right here is an example
of a load that came down wrong.
What this does is it'll cause
our stainless steel blanks
to sit upward,
and with this type
of crane that we have
I can't come down into
the load and pick it up,
because everything that
sits up will stop it.
(anode clatters)
So now we got this out of here.
The load looks good
so now I can go and
turn everything back on,
and then come down
and pick this up
and we can send it down
to our guys down there.
- [Narrator] But on
powering the crane back up,
it appears that Jared
has fixed one problem
only to find another.
- So now, right now
I'm telling the car
that it's okay to go
(machine beeping)
and it's not responding.
(uneasy music)
- [Narrator] Meanwhile
back at the mine,
(horn blaring)
shovel operator Paul Hobbs's
day is finally starting
to hit its stride
with a 200-foot long berm
now protecting he and his
colleagues from falling rock,
and just another
50 tons of ore left
to harvest by quitting time.
- This will be the last
scoop on this truck.
Nice big scoop.
We'll send him out.
(horn blares)
He'll be on his way.
- [Narrator] Well, not just yet,
because as Paul's colleague
is about to point out,
that last scoop may have
been a little too big.
- Yeah, I'll go ahead
and empty my dipper
and place it out there,
have you back in.
(tense music)
(mechanism screeching)
The truck we just loaded,
he's overloaded.
So what we're going to do is
he is going to back up here
under the bucket, and then
I'm going to swing forward.
You have to be very
careful with this.
I'm going to swing
forward all the way
in front of his load here,
and then I'm going to swing
some of this dirt back off.
Hopefully, get more weight
on the tail end of his truck.
(uneasy music)
Got to be very careful
not to touch that canopy.
See how it's pushed
that dirt back
toward the back of the bed,
pushed a little
bit off the truck.
(music intensity increases)
- Good to go, thank you.
- [Narrator] And with that,
it's back to scooping.
(steady music)
- A good scoop of dirt here
to spot this truck with.
Trucks are getting in and
out of here pretty good.
Kind of really getting
a good rhythm going on.
(engine revving)
And then we'll get our
target tons for the day.
- [Narrator] While Paul
finishes up at the mine,
back at the shop
advanced craftsman
Milo Zivanovic
and his partner Craig
are still struggling
to make headway on
their latest project.
- [Narrator] All they
have to do is swap out
a busted dog bone
for a new one by the next shift.
But it seems the pins holding
that part in place
are stuck but good.
- [Narrator] But Milo still has
one more trick up his sleeve.
(suspenseful music)
- [Narrator] In
times like these,
a cutting torch is just
about the only means
for removing stubborn pins.
But since it's also a
fairly dangerous one,
Craig will need to
stand by with a hose
to prevent any
unwanted flare-ups.
(water fizzing)
- [Craig] We keep
the water there
to make sure nothing like the
grease lines catch on fire
or the electrical,
and the tires, you don't
want them getting hot.
They got like a 110,
120 psi in them,
so it's like a b*mb.
(suspenseful music continues)
- [Craig] Are you done?
- Okay, got her.
- [Craig] You need me
to go get the forklift?
- [Craig] Okay.
(engine humming)
(suspenseful music continues)
- [Narrator] And with that,
this dog bone is
finally out of the way.
But before they can
install a new one,
(cutting torch whooshing)
Milo will need to burn
some residual steel
from the haul truck's
undercarriage.
That is, if he doesn't
burn himself first.
- Oh!
- [Narrator] Copper isn't
just highly conductive
or resistant to corrosion,
it's also 100% recyclable
which is why nearly 80%
of all the copper ever
mined is still in use today.
But with record highs in demand,
there's more to wrestle
from the earth yet,
and in northern Utah
the workers at Rio
Tinto-Kennecott
are doing just that
to fill their sizable quota
of 1.5 million pounds today.
But while their fleet
of 90-plus trucks are steadily
chipping away at that goal,
one of them is still
out of commission,
that is until advanced
craftsman Milo Zivanovic
and his partner Craig can
swap out a broken dog bone.
Apparently though, that's
not their only burning issue.
- [Craig] That ain't good.
(urgent music)
- [Narrator] Ever the wing man,
Craig is quick to
cut off the fuel
while Milo makes some
much needed adjustments.
(cutting torch whooshing)
- [Narrator] With that
fitting once again tight,
Milo can remove the
last of the old pins
and start installing some
sleeves for the new ones.
(impact g*n whirring)
(steady music)
But since those
sleeves are designed
to fit firmly in their
respective holes,
they'll first need to
be shrunk down a bit
and nothing does that
quite like a quick dip
in some liquid nitrogen.
- Ready, brother?
(robust music)
(metal clanking)
(metal clanking)
Oh yeah.
- Okay, you ready
for our last one?
- There we go.
(robust music continues)
(metal clanking)
(wrench clicking)
- [Narrator] And with that,
all the remains is to
bring in the new dog bone.
- [Narrator] And secure it
with some replacement pins.
(hammer clanging)
- We're done. We're good to go.
Okay, buddy. You're
gonna guide me out.
- Yep.
- Good job.
- Good job, brother.
- [Narrator] Milo and Craig may
be winding down their shift,
but back at the refinery
crane operator Jared Rackham's
day is still far from over,
because with his
crane now unresponsive
he's all but dead in the water
until electricians get
it back up and running,
but that's not to say
he's completely helpless.
- There's always something to do
and we like to try to stay busy.
So I'm going to be
scraping off nodules.
- [Narrator] What's
a nodule you ask?
Well, it's kind of like a
growth on the copper cathodes,
and when they start to
form too many of them
it'll degrade the quality
of the final product.
Thankfully though,
they are nothing Jared
and a standard-issue
scraper can't handle.
- So as you can see,
the copper cathode comes up
and all these little bumps on
the bottom here are nodules.
So if we compare
this to a farmer,
this is basically getting
the weeds out of the crop.
Got to get rid of
the small bad things
so that the good things can
keep growing like they should.
(brisk music)
And now this copper cathode
is ready to continue growing,
and it looks good.
- [Narrator] From there,-
- Take them come up.
- [Narrator] it's just a matter
of lift, scrape, and repeat.
(scraper clanking)
- All right. Take them up.
- [Narrator] Until all 500
of these cathodes are once
again growing on Jared's terms.
- With a little bit of knocking,
we can get that nodule
right off of there.
And we are finished with getting
the weeds out of this crop.
(brisk music continues)
Very good! We're done!
- [Narrator] And just in time.
- Yeah, go ahead.
- [Narrator] Because apparently
that crane Jared's been waiting
for is finally back online.
- Yeah, I'll head over now.
And it looks like everything's
running as normal.
(machine beeping)
We're going to be getting
production up and running,
just again sending loads.
It's good to be running again.
- [Narrator] Back
at the smelter,
hot metals tapper Chance
Shepherd is making headway
of his own
with his latest batch of copper
melted down to 99% purity
and ready to be extracted
in a process known
as blister tapping.
- So blister tapping
is the final part
of the Hot Metals department.
That's where we get
our final product
before we ship it off to
anodes to further refine,
so blister copper
is the money maker.
- [Narrator] But to free
it from this furnace
Chance will need more
than a pneumatic hammer,
because the only thing that
can punch through 24 inches
of crucible wall
is what's known as
an oxygen lance.
(ignitor buzzing)
- [Narrator] With a tip
that burns at 3,000 degrees,
this oxygen lance can create
a 3-inch wide tap hole
in a matter of minutes.
And though Chance might
make it look easy,
there's more nuance to
this than meets the eye.
- [Narrator] But despite his
best efforts to avoid them,
the dangers inherent
to this job can come
from anywhere at anytime.
(dramatic music)
(colleague chatters)
(Chance coughing)
- [Narrator] What a day
it's been for the workers
of Rio Tinto-Kennecott,
who in an effort to
create 1.5 million pounds
of copper by quitting time
have faced falling rock,
maintenance issues,
and other setbacks
since hour one.
But none have been quite
so extreme as the one
that hot metals tapper Chance
Shepherd is facing right now,
because while tapping into his
last batch of blister copper
his air supply has
suddenly stopped.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] At
moments like these,
your average person
would likely be tempted
to rip off their face mask,
but with toxins like
sulfuric dioxide in the air
Chance knows from his training
that he'll need to
get to safety first,
then figure out what went wrong.
- [Chance] So we had a
hose connection come undone
which made me lose
my breathable air,
which caused me to have to
run to a safe environment
so that I can get support
to reattach that air hose.
- [Narrator] With that
hose now reattached,
Chance wastes no time getting
back to the task at hand.
(furnace whooshing)
(furnace whooshing)
- [Narrator] And just like that,
another 185 tons of copper
starts making its way
to the next step of the process,
leaving Chance to end his
somewhat hair-raising day
on a high note.
- It definitely feels much
nicer being inside here
out of that tap floor,
having all of our PPE off.
But we got both the
furnaces up and flowing,
tap holes are running.
Now it's up to the
next area, anodes,
to go ahead and take
on the next task,
and then off to the refinery
where they'll end the day.
And speaking of ending the day,
that's my cue to leave.
- [Narrator] Meanwhile
back at the refinery,
crane operator Jared Rackham's
day is also winding down,
because with some
60,000 blank cathodes
now soaking up some copper
all that's left is to pull the
ones that have fully formed.
- So we're going to start
pulling straight copper.
This will be just pulling
up the copper cathodes,
and we're going to leave
the anodes still in there
to cook for a whole
nother round of two weeks.
- [Narrator] Over the
course of 30 days,
a single anode will create
two cathodes worth of copper
each valued at about
a thousand dollars,
and as Jared knows all too well
that can add up pretty quick
at a facility like this one.
- According to
current copper prices,
this could be over $45,000
worth of copper right here.
Now this is pretty much
money in the bank now.
It's going to get stripped off
these stainless steel blanks.
It'll be wrapped up, bundled up,
and put on the train.
(steady music)
- [Narrator] For the
last of those steps,
Jared swaps his
crane for a forklift.
Then once each
of these 5,500-pound bundles
are loaded onto the train,
there's just one
thing left to do.
- What we're doing is
we're shimming this
so none of the copper loads
shift while the train takes off.
This'll keep it secure and safe,
and it won't shift the
weight in the train
so the train doesn't tip either.
They're going to come by,
close this door,
pick up the ramp,
and ship this copper
off into the world.
(steady music continues)
- As for Jared,
the time has
finally come for him
to clock out for the day
with another 1.5 million pounds
of high grade copper
refined, bundled,
and bound for an
eagerly waiting nation.
And whether it winds up
piping water into your faucet,
or electricity into your home,
or perhaps inside a device
like the one you are
watching right now,
there is no question that
copper will be performing some
of the most essential
services a metal can muster.
So it's a good thing that
come tomorrow the workers of
Rio Tinto-Kennecott will be
right back at it,
digging, condensing,
smelting, and soaking,
for the good of us all
and for one of the
more overlooked
but no less essential
ingredients to "How
America Works".
(gentle music)
Obviously, getting copper
out of the ground is not
for the faint of heart.
The Bingham Canyon Mine
we just showed you is one
of the deepest, darkest
holes on the planet
4,000 feet straight down,
2.5 miles across.
In other words
in spite of what the song says,
pennies do not really
come from heaven.
They have to be earned
down here on earth,
sometimes in the earth.
And if you've got what
it takes to do that,
check out the many opportunities
at Rio Tinto-Kennecott
and countless other mining
operations all over the country
who are waiting
to pay top dollar
for men and women
who are willing to get to work.
Those opportunities are
at MikeRoweWorks.org/HAW.
Check them out.
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03x06 - Copper
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Showcasing the many individuals who work around the clock to keep America's infrastructure in working order.
Showcasing the many individuals who work around the clock to keep America's infrastructure in working order.